As Light As A Quill
by suzansays
Summary: When Katelyn Lynch, daughter of Irish seeker Aidan Lynch, meets Oliver Wood at the Quidditch World Cup both their lives are turned upside down.
1. Chapter 1

I enjoyed the already hot rays of sunshine on my face. It was noon, but the sun was already beating down on the clearing where our tent stood. Four more tents were placed around the clearing, each a little weirder than the next. I had just come out of our own bright green one, a testimonial to Irish pride. My uncle Cillian was sitting in front of the tent trying to make the fire to work with something Muggles call matches. Even though he could get it done in a few seconds with a spell, we had to be careful. That awful ministry man had already checked up on us three times and threatened to throw us off the campsite if we used magic in the open again. Clearly he had his hand full with the rest of the campsite. The reason that we all had a nice clearing to ourselves was that all of us were directly related to the Irish Quidditch team. My dad was the captain and seeker, Aidan Lynch. Together with my uncle and nephew we decided to join my father for this legendary match. Some other relatives were present, but since they were not his direct family they had to make do with the normal campsite. The stakes were high and our hopes were up. My dad had been training so hard for this match I hardly got to see him these past few months. I was anxious and excited at the same time that the match had finally arrived.

'Care for some company?' I heard a voice say. I looked up to see Saoirse Moran standing before me, my best friend. She was the daughter of Chaser Moran and we basically grew up together. We were all close to the team's offspring but Saoirse and I were always really close.

'Sure. How's your mum getting on?' I grinned at her. She sat down next to me with a sigh.

'Still trying to boil that damn water. It stopped being amusing about an hour ago. She threatened to take my wand if I tried to fix it with magic again.'

'I reckon this will take quiet a lot of time. We could always go and get some food on the campsite? I'm sure there are some stands that sell food instead of green stuff.'

'We should come back with some Bulgarian scarfs or something. That would be hilarious.' She proposed with a mischievous smile on her face. I laughed out loud at the prospect.

'Sounds like a plan to me. Let's go!' I got off the grass and wiped the remaining dirt of my shorts. As we made our way to the place where all the souvenir and food stands were I enjoyed looking around at the madness surrounding us. I had never seen anything like it. There were people from all over the world gathered here.

'You know, I might go for one of those flying carpets. They seem like fun.' Saoirse told me as we were walking past a few wizards have some sort of race on flying carpets.

'Weren't those banned years ago?'

'I believe so. They don't really seem to care.'

'Bloody showoffs.'

'You know, I heard Harry Potter was walking around here somewhere.'

'Really? Maybe we'll run into him.' I was pretty excited to see Harry Potter. I heard so much about him, but unfortunately I hadn't attended Hogwarts. When we arrived at the food stand we were faced with a long line. Apparently we weren't the only ones who couldn't get the food to cook without magic. The stands were just like the arena, not approachable for Muggles, which allowed us to sell magical items for the match. As the line slowly progressed I noticed the guy who was standing in front of us. He had brown hair and a Scottish accent. I noticed he was well built but most of all he was just really handsome. He had this kind of commanding presence that I really liked. Saoirse saw me staring holes at the back of his head and nudged me with her elbow.

'What?' I giggled a little and blushed when she sent me a gigantic wink.

'He's hot.' She mouthed to me. Before I could say anything to her she nudged me a little harder which made me trip and fall right into his back. He reacted fast; before I fell down on the ground he caught me by my arms and pulled me to my feet again.

'Wow, steady there.' He told me in his thick Scottish drawl. His face was close to mine as he said it; I raised my eyes to look right into his deep brown ones.

'I'm sorry. I tripped.' I offered him lamely. He grinned at my lame confession as I took a step back. I saw him raise his eyebrows slightly out of amusement.

'Tripping, huh? You live a dangerous life.' He told me with the same grin on his face. I was just about to reply when his order was ready and he turned around to retrieve his food. Together with his two friends he left the line but he turned around while his friends continued to walk away. He shot me a smile. 'See you around, shorty?' He winked at me, turned around and took a short sprint to catch up with his friends.

I turned back to Saoirse and fixed her with a deathly glare. 'I can not believe you did that!' I told her exasperated. The guy behind the counter looked at us impatiently to give him our order.

'Why not? He totally flirted with you!' She grinned back at me after we placed our orders.

'He totally did, didn't he? But still! You could've been more subtle, that was embarrassing!'

'He didn't seem to mind when you were batting your eyelashes at him.'

'He was really cute wasn't he? I wonder if we'll see him again.'

'God, we really need to get you a man. Every time time you meet one your hormones go on overdrive.' She laughed.

'No one said anything about hormones, smarty-pants.' I grumbled. The guy behind the counter cleared his throat so we'd channel our attention his way. I paid him a few sickles and we took our hotdogs from him.

'I wonder if mum got the fire working, now.' Saoirse mused to herself. 'We totally forgot to buy the Bulgarian crap though.'

'Ah well. We'll find another way to piss them off.'

'When you were staring at that guy's butt I heard a nice rumor though. Apparently there's an after party on lot four. Shall we grace them with our presence tonight?'

'Sounds good. I could do with a party about now. I can't believe summer vacation was this uneventful. We don't even have school to go back to this year.'

'But we do have our awesome flat sharing adventure to look forward to.'

'That reminds me; I found this amazing couch in Wizards Delight catalogue yesterday.' We talked about your furniture plans all the way until we found our clearing again. My uncle had somehow finally got is fire working and Saoirse's mum was with him boiling her water. I suspected they gave up the Muggle way and used a spell as soon as we left. We took a seat next to my nephew Alan and started to discuss the upcoming match. Alan was still under the impression that the Bulgarian team might still win due to their young seeker Krum. I was still of opinion that he couldn't possibly crush dad with his seeking skill. My dad did have much more experience on the field and in the sky. And I knew their strong plays by heart. But I also knew my dad's weaknesses, and if Krum watched their old games he must know them to. My uncle was of opinion that the Irish will crush the Bulgarians any time on any day. As the other families joined us around our tent the gong for the start of the game went off.

Still cheering and dancing we left the vast arena. The Irish had beaten the Bulgarians and I couldn't be more proud. I was a little worried though because dad had two major crashes on the field and could barely stand to receive the cup from the minister. But we weren't allowed to see him yet; the medi-wizards had their hands full on the team and didn't want any disruptions while they were working. My dad would probably stop by our tent after he got discharged. Meanwhile Saoirse and I had made our plans to visit lot four on our way back to check out the party the Irish supporters had planned for after the match. There was cheering and singing all around us, a few sulking people along the partying crowd.

'Cillian, this is where we part ways. We'll meet up with you guys later at the tent.' I told my uncle at an crossroads between the lots.

'All right then. But be careful doll, if your dad finds you drunk he will kill both of us. Please be a little thoughtful. A lot of happy idiots around tonight.'

'We'll be alright!' I shouted happily as Saoirse and I continued our way. The path through the lots was decorated with romantic lights, the singing and general happiness brought some extra magic in the air. It was intoxicating.

'This is so surreal.' I told Saoirse in an excited voice.

'I know. Hey! Isn't that Conor?' She pointed her finger at a tent not hat far away from us. Four guys were sitting in front of it, one was telling a joke and the others were laughing. I immediately recognized Conor's laugh. 'Conor!' Saoirse yelled as we came closer to the tent. Conor went to the same private school as we did. He was the son of some Irish hotshot in the Ministry. He was a good friend though.

'Saoirse, Katelyn! It's so good to see you!' He stood up from his spot and gave us both a hug. 'I was hoping I would see you around tonight. Did you guys come for the party?'

'You know we couldn't resist a party, even if we wanted to.' Saoirse grinned at him.

'Come on, join us for a while.' Conor told us as and pointed at two empty seats in the circle. We joined them as he introduced his two friends to us. A blonde guy with eyes as green as their tent was called Patrick and a black haired boy who was called Sam. When they heard our last name they nearly fell out of their seats.

'I reckon you liked the match then?' I asked them, still laughing.

'Hell yeah! It was a shame Krum caught the snitch though.' Sam told us.

'Well I'm sure he just didn't want his team to not get any credit.' Conor told us seriously. He was just starting with a whole play-by-play of the match when we heard a distant scream coming from behind us. At first I didn't really think much of it, what could possibly happen in a crowded campsite full of wizards and security? It was not until we had our second shot of firewhiskey that more screams were heard above all the noise.

'What's going on?' I half whispered at Saoirse. Everybody's chattering and singing had calmed down a bit so everybody could try to hear what was going on. I was a little woozy from the firewhiskey and I knew that in my present state I could not defend myself fully if it came down to it. It also made me a little scared. More screams filled the air.

'Ok you guys, I think we should get out of here.' Patrick proposed. All of us nodded and stood up from our seats. Conor quickly locked the tent with a spell and we joined the people on the path trying to figure out what's going on and slowly back away from the screaming. I could not fully see what was happening, but some kind of mob had formed not that far away from us and they were coming straight towards us. They were wearing some kind of masks that immediately initiated fear in me. I recognized those masks.

'Oh my god! They're Death Eaters!' I yelled in panic. I was not the only one to realise this as we were watching the mob coming closer. Everybody started screaming, yelling and running. Our recognition caused the mob to send their first spells towards us. I grabbed Saoirse's hand as we started running with the rest of the people in the path towards the forest. Jets of blue and green flew around my ears when Saoirse's hand was ripped from mine and the running crowd separated us.

'Saoirse!' I yelled in panic but it was no use. She would not be able to hear me with the noise of panic and fear surrounding us.


	2. Chapter 2

I got pulled in with the crowd, entering the forest. In the chaos I only saw flashes of light and panicked faces. It was much darker in the woods; there were no lights here. Nobody felt like taking the time to cast Lumos. I tripped several times before I fell on my knees. I immediately covered my head with my hands, expecting to get trampled within seconds. There were too many people running blindly around me out of fear for the Death Eaters. I waited for the first foot to kick me but it didn't come. Suddenly I felt two strong arms around me, pulling me upright. The arms pulled me back behind a large and thick tree, safe from the crowd. I looked up to see the guy from this afternoon in the line standing before me: wild eyed and breathing heavily.

'Are you alright?' He asked me with a worried look on his face.

'Yeah, I think so.' I told him ass I took a look at myself. I appeared unharmed.

'Good. I wasn't sure I send the bubble charm on time when you fell.'

'You did that?'

'Yeah. I saw you fall from a short distance.

I was silent for a few seconds. 'Thank you.' I finally breathed out. I looked around us. The crowd was thinning but we were deep in the forest. I had not noticed how far I got pulled in. 'What happened? I saw Death Eaters!'

'I saw them to. How did they even get through security?'

'Who knows. Do you think we should get back to the campsite? I really need to find my friend. We got separated just before I entered the woods.'

'I'm not sure it's safe yet. Do you really want to go now?' He took a good look at the woods surrounding us again. We were almost alone now. We could hear people around us hiding or walking, but I could hardly see anyone.

'I have to find her; I have to know she's safe. What about your friends? Won't they wonder where you are?'

'They know I can take care of myself. I lost them in the crowd as well, they won't be that worried I reckon. I would just like to see you safe back to your tent. I can hardly leave you know.' He told me with a small smirk on his face.

'That's quite some loyalty for someone who doesn't even know my name.' I told him with a small laugh. We both lit our wands and started our way back towards the campsite.

'All right. Pray tell me what is your name?'

'I'm Katelyn, Katelyn Lynch.' I told him as I extended my hand to him.

'I'm Oliver.' He shook my hand. 'Wood.' He added just as our hands broke contact.

'Well Oliver, now is probably not a good time to make a forest joke about your last name.'

'Probably not. You wouldn't want to make a bad impression, now would you?' He grinned at me.

'Isn't it a little late for bad first impressions?' I laughed at the memory of me falling into his back when we first met.

'True. I thought you fell for me right there and then at the hotdog stand.'

'Funny.' I muttered but still with a secret smile on my face.

'So Lynch, any relation to Aidan Lynch?'

'Yeah, he's my dad actually.'

'You're kidding!' He exclaimed and stood still to observe my face for a few seconds. 'Yeah, I guess you two look a little alike.'

'So, you're an Irish fan then?'

'If it's Ireland versus Bulgaria I'll choose Ireland every time. But I'll always root for the Scots first.' We started walking again with our wands at the ready. Talking about Quidditch made the situation a little lighter though. 'How's your dad by the way? He had quite a crash, twice.'

'I haven't seen him yet. We're not allowed to see him right after the match. He has to be cleared by the mediwizards first.

'How long does that take usually?'

'An hour, usually. But it's customary to wait for the rest of the team so that's why it usually takes so long. Do you play?'

He gave me a little maniacal look and then replaced it with a huge grin. 'Yeah, I have played Quidditch as long as I can walk now. I was Captain of my house for a few years as well.' With any other person I'd constitute this as bragging but he sounded so sincere and passionate that I only felt admiration for his passion.

'Where did you go to school? Hogwarts?'

'Yes, how did you guess?'

'As far as I know the only school in the neighbourhood with actual houses is Hogwarts.'

'You're sharp. Where did you go to school then?'

'Some private school in Ireland. Probably not as much fun as Hogwarts was.'

'Yeah I guess we make the headlines pretty often don't we?' Chamber of secrets, Sirius Black, Harry Potter and all that.'

'Yeah, and all that.' I laughed. I stopped laughing when I saw we reached the end of the forest. We grew silent, more alert. The screaming was more distant now. I could barely hear it anymore. But where did Saoirse go? Would she go back to the tent or did she go into the forest to look for me? Knowing her she'd probably return to the tents. Go to see if her mom's okay.

'Where do you want to go? Do you know where your friend went?'

'I guess back at the tent? It's the only place that we both know how to find. You don't have to come if you don't want to, you know that right?'

'I want to. You can't talk me out of this.' He winked at me. 'But I'm pretty sure she's okay. It looks like they didn't stop here and passed through, see?' He pointed at the footprints in the grass. He was right, it looked like they stomped right through the campsite. We slowly let our guard down as I led him to where my tent stood. I hoped my father had returned in the meantime. He would know what to do and what to think. We were almost there, only a few minutes removed from the clearing when we heard it. A heart-wrenching scream came first and it seemed to have infected everybody around us. Everybody started screaming and it took me a few moments to realise they were all staring at something in the sky. I turned around in horror at the green shape illuminating the sky. The infamous dark mark was floating above us.

'Oh dear Merlin. You don't think-?' I couldn't finish my sentence as I turned back around to face Oliver. He had the same horror stricken look on his face as I had.

'Let's get out of here and back to your tent.' Was the only thing he managed to say. We broke into a run and it didn't take long before we stepped through the trees into the clearing. I immediately recognised Saoirse, her mom and my dad standing in front of my tent looking up into the sky. My dad was the first one to see me running towards him. I ran into his arms and gave him a big hug.

'Oh honey, I'm so glad you're okay.' He told me as he lifted me of the ground. When he had sat me down I gave Saoirse a hug.

'I was so worried about you. I didn't-' She didn't finish her sentence when she noticed Oliver standing awkwardly behind me. 'Hey! You're the guy we met in line this afternoon.' She stated with a big smile.

'This is Oliver everybody. He kind of saved my life tonight.' He gave everybody an awkward wave. He was clearly nervous around my dad. After a few seconds he seemed to have collected enough nerve to walk up to my dad and shake his hand.

'I'm Oliver Wood sir.' He introduced himself politely. My dad shook his hand and clapped his free hand to Oliver's shoulder.

'Well lad, it seems that tonight you're my hero. Thanks for looking out for my little pumpkin.' I visually cringed at this nickname. Oliver however, could only grin.

'No problem sir, it's an honour to meet you. I do have to jet unfortunately, my friends are probably waiting for me back at my tent.' He told my dad and then turned to face me. 'It was great meeting you Katelyn. I'll owl you, alright?'

'Yeah sure, thanks again for everything.' I told him with a smile.

'Bye pumpkin.' He said to me just loud enough for me to hear and walked away. Jut before he disappeared into the woods he gave us one last wave over his shoulder.

'I'm so glad you are all right! I saw the dark mark and I completely freaked out!' Saoirse told me as she gave me one more hug.

'I wonder then, did they actually kill somebody?' I asked my dad over Saoirse's shoulder.

'I certainly hope not. They are gone though; they won't be coming back tonight. We leave first thing tomorrow morning. You're mother is probably worried sick if we don't report to her as soon as possible.' I nodded and let go of Saoirse. We all retreated into our tents in the hopes of getting at least a little sleep. Even though I was completely knackered I couldn't even think about sleeping. The whole evening was going through my mind. The match, the Death Eater mob, Oliver, the Dark Mark. What did the Death Eaters even want tonight? Cause chaos, remind us all that they're still at large and we should prepare? But You Know Who was gone, wasn't he?

We left early in the morning. Clearly nobody actually slept but we were all too tired to comment on it. My dad and I said our goodbye to everybody and apparated back to our house where my mother was probably already waiting for us. When we entered the kitchen we were immediately attacked by my mother's hugs.

'Oh darlings, I'm so glad you are okay! I got the prophet this morning and they only thing I could think about was the Dark Mark hanging over that wretched place. What happened? Everybody is alright, right?'

'Everybody is fine. As far as I know nobody has been killed. I heard something about this ministry guy's elf. But for now I think we both need some sleep.' He told my mom with his arm around her shoulders. I nodded, gave my mom a kiss on her cheek and crawled upstairs to my room. Without changing out of my clothes I dropped myself on my bed and before I knew it I fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

When I opened my eyes the next day I saw that it was nearly four in the afternoon. I sat up straight and looked at my attire. I was still dressed in the clothes from the day before. I sniffed my armpit for a small second and decided it was time for a long, long shower. I stepped into my bathroom and drew a bath for myself. As I lay in the warm water I let all the events of the day before come of over me. I wondered if I would see Oliver again. We didn't exchange any addresses but he could probably find our address out someway or another. Maybe I could fin him in the owl register somewhere. But wouldn't it be weird of I made the first move? I should probably wait until he contacted me. I decided to put him out of my mind for now. But I didn't want to think about the Death Eater incident either. But yet I was curious how they even got onto the campsite and if they really didn't kill anyone. Rita Skeeter probably wouldn't have the answer though. When I stepped out of my bath I wrapped a towel around myself and stepped back into my room. To my surprise I wasn't alone. On my desk sat a brown owl I didn't recognise. I slowly walked to the owl to see if it wasn't some grumpy bird that would bite my fingers on the first occasion it got. The owl however stayed completely calm and let me take the letter it was carrying with him.

"_Dear Katelyn,_

_I hope I got the address right. Some bum at the Quidditch information centre gave it to me. Anyway, I just wanted to write to see if you're okay. But we both know that was a lie and I really just needed an excuse to write to you._

Cheers, Oliver."

I giggled as I read his letter. Little smartass. But I was lying to myself if I said that I didn't love it. I grabbed a piece of parchment on my desk and a quill. As I put the quill to the parchment I hesitated as to what I was going to write him.

"_Dear Oliver,_

_Thank you for your honest confession. Tell my how I can repay you for saving my life. Maybe an activity that doesn't require any clothes?'_

_Love, Katelyn." _

As soon as I wrote this version I tore it up and threw it away. I grabbed another piece of parchment and started again.

"_Dear Oliver,_

_That was really sweet of you, I like your honesty. How are you?_

_Love, Katelyn"_

I looked at my writing for a second and then quickly gave it back to the bird before I could change my mind and chicken out on writing back. The bird happily took the letter and with a cute chirp he took off and flew back out of the window. I watched it fly away for a few seconds. It flew north and quickly disappeared out of sight. It was a cloudy but warm day. I got dressed and with my mind still on the letter I went downstairs. I found my parents sitting in the kitchen sipping coffee. Before I knew it our house elf Kerry was standing before me.

'Good afternoon Miss Katelyn, can I get you some tea?' She offered.

'Thank you, could you make me some toast as well?' I asked her. She nodded and went to boil some water for me. I turned to my parents and saw they had these amused looks on their faces.

'Good afternoon sleeping beauty.' My mother said to me.

'Morning.' I smiled back as Kerry put the toast and tea in front of me. 'Thank you Kerry.' I thanked her and took a bite out of my toast. I hadn't realised I was so hungry from sleeping so long.

'So, did you sleep well?' My mother asked me with this sly smile on her face. I looked at her suspiciously. She was up to something, I could tell immediately. I quickly decided to change the subject.

'Yes, very. Is there any more news of the dark mark stuff from yesterday?' This didn't seem to faze her at all, the goofy grin was still apparent on her face. My father played innocent and started being very interested in his coffee cup.

'You should know, with the early owl arriving this morning.' My mom continued. I immediately put the toast back down on my plate.

'All right. Spill. What did he tell you?' I pointed at my father as I said this.

'He told me about this Oliver boy saving you.' She gushed after a short beat. She was probably waiting to talk to me about this all day.

'Dad!' I complained to my father who was still staring at his coffee. My mom was the queen of not letting the subject drop, especially when it concerns boys.

'I'm sorry Katy, it just slipped out!' My father defended himself. 'You know how she is!' My dad threw up his hands in the air in defeat.

'Sorry, my ass.' I mumbled and took another sip of my tea.

'So that owl, was that him?' My mother asked me again. I considered my options. Or I could tell her the truth or I lie and she'd search my room until she finds the letter. I decided on my first option, a lot saver.

'Yes, he wrote to me. Just to check how I was.'

'That's so sweet! Isn't that sweet Aidan?'

'It's no big deal Mom!'

'Oh hush! It's not everyday you meet a ruggedly handsome Scot to save your life.'

'Mom please, just let it go for now.'

'Al right, but did you write him back?'

'Yes I wrote him back, just a short letter to thank him.'

'Thank you. That wasn't that hard now, was it?' She took another sip of her tea with a smug smile on her face.

'So, are you looking forward to your first day tomorrow?' My dad asked me to change the subject. Tomorrow was my first day at the National Quidditch Publication Bureau as an assistant. It might not be the most glamorous job, but it was a start. And it would pay the bills for when I move out at the end of the summer.

'I'm so excited about it actually.' I told him, finally glad to have changed the subject.

'I'm sure you'll be quite busy after the match yesterday. And of course school Quidditch is starting and the recruiting season. I'm almost jealous of you, it's so exciting.' My dad joked.

'Careful now dad, I could tell them plenty of stories about you that will shock our Irish pride right out of our heads.' I joked back.

'I should never have told you that Christmas story.' He sighed and we all laughed.

'So, what are you going to do on your last day of freedom?' My mom asked me.

'I'm not really sure yet, I think I'm going to swing by Saoirse's later. Too bad the day is almost over.' I sighed. 'How are you even doing Dad, is your back still hurting from the crashes?' I asked my father.

'Not that much, only a little sore now.'

'You still take it easy though, I don't want you flying for a week.' My mother told him and wagged her finger at him warningly. My dad nodded dutifully at my mother but when she wasn't watching he winked at me. My mom would kill him if she found out. I grinned and left the table to go to my room. When I entered my room the owl was waiting for me, once again. It took me by surprise but I was pleased to find the owl back so soon. I padded the bird on her head as I took the letter from her. It really was a pretty owl, definitely an expensive breed. She was tame as well, tame and calm. I wondered what her name would be, either something very elegant or something Quidditch related. I opened the small scroll.

"_Dear Katelyn,_

_I'm very well. Preparing for a new Quidditch season tomorrow. What are your plans for after the summer holidays?"_

Love, Oliver"

I smiled at his immediate intent to try to get to know me better. He was kind of forward, but yet still subtle in his ways. I opened my desk drawer and got out some owl treats. I put some in the palm of my hand and fed them to her. She nibbled on my fingers after the treat to thank me. I laughed a little and patted her head again. Next I got out another piece of parchment.

"_Dear Oliver,_

_That's nice; do you fly for a team? I'm planning on starting a new job tomorrow, kind of exciting as well! You have an amazing owl by the way, she's very sweet._

Love, Katelyn"

I rolled the parchment up and gave it back to the bird. It looked at me for a second and if it were a human I think it would have smiled at me. When she took off I cleaned up my desk and put on my shoes. Time to report to Saoirse. I apparated right out side of her door and knocked. Her mom opened the door for me.

'Hello Katelyn, nice to see you again.'

'Hello misses Moran.' I greeted her with a grin on my face.

'How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that, it makes me feel so old.' She joked. As she opened the door a little wider to let me in she gave me a small wink. 'You know the way. I think she's fell asleep again.'

'The lazy bum.' I joked to her and went upstairs. I knew this place almost as well as I knew my own house. I walked up to flights of stairs and opened the second door that I encountered. The room was still dark with the curtains closed. Saoirse lay on her bed, still with her clothes on she presumably put on to get some breakfast. I sneaked up on her and send a minor stinging jinx her way. She yelped and sprung up from her bed, wand at the ready. When she saw me she relaxed her wand and gave me a stern look.

'Don't ever do that to me again, Katy, you scared me half to death!' She told me and put her hand where her heart was located on her chest to exaggerate her point.

'I'm sorry, I couldn't help it' I told her still laughing from her reaction. She sat back down on her bed and yawned.

'It's way too early for this.'

'It's always too early for everything with you, until it's time to go to sleep.'

'You know me so well.' She grinned at me. I settled on her bed and sat back down next to her leaning against her headboard.

'You will never guess what happened this morning.'

'You finally gave up on the hope that people will spell your name right for once?'

'No. Close though.'

'You figured that this was your one last day of official freedom and you wanted to spent it in my bed?'

'Sorry, no.'

'I'm out.' She raised her hands in defeat.

'You remember Oliver, from yesterday?'

'Of course, the hottie!'

'Well, he figured out my address and sent me an owl.'

'The little stalker!' She exclaimed happily. 'What did he write?'

'He asked me how I was doing after yesterday, and then admitted that he only asked as an excuse to owl me.' I couldn't even disguise the fact that I was really pleased he wrote to me so soon.

'You lucky little bugger. That's so cute. Did you write him back yet?'

'I did, and when I got back to my room he wrote me again. I've never met a guy who is so forward about this.'

'You're so lucky Kat, he is so hot. And he sort of saved your life. At least he saved your pretty little head from getting trampled.'

'Where would my pretty little head be without him?'

'Probably without a hot guy to obsess about.'


	4. Chapter 4

My first day at the National Quidditch Publication Bureau was pretty tumultuous. I started out the day with oversleeping. I wasn't able to catch any sleep the night before with my mind on everything that was going to happen at my new job. People would think that I just got my way in through my father, which is technically true. But this forced me to prove myself to everybody who hears my last name. With huge bags under my eyes I apparated to the office. When I got there and announced myself to the receptionist at the front desk, she called up the person who was supposed to guide me through my first day but this person apparently never heard of me or about the fact that I was arriving that day. This took about half an hour to sort out, which made me half an hour late to start with. I sat on this uncomfortable wooden chair in the lobby, which was supposed to represent some kind of broomstick, fidgeting with my hair and nails thinking about all the scenarios I had running through my mind when I pictured the start of my first day. But this was worse than anything I had imagined. When the whole mess was finally figured out she took my into this little office on the top floor to introduce me to the company and talk me through all of the policies. When she finished it was already lunchtime. Lunchtime was terrible as well because I didn't have anyone to sit with because I didn't know anyone. I ended up sitting next to people I didn't really know and who gave me looks like I didn't belong in their conversations. They kept talking about some Ministry politics thing. This was not how my first day at the Quidditch Publication Bureau was supposed to go.

'But if Fudge had it really under control, there'd be no noise floating around criticizing him.'

'But you see, I think this noise is positive. This might get him to go into high gear.'

'What high gear? He hasn't done shit his entire Minister career.'

'It looks like it, but he has kept everything under control. It's been quiet all this time.'

'Silence before the storm is what we call it.'

'What storm? There is no threat out there anymore.'

'Anyone who thinks that has been living under a rock.'

'Where's the proof?'

'The proof is that there's no proof that you-know-who is actually gone!'

'Is this about the idiot who graced the sky with the dark mark?'

'It was an idiot all right. But a loyal one, not everybody knows the spell. Only his followers do.'

'His followers? Who would declare themselves a follower, it's some kind of risk and a one way ticket to Azkaban.'

'It was a declaration, it means that they're still out there and gathering.'

It was a never ending discussion that I was forced to listen to for an hour of lunch. For a few seconds they even looked at me for an opinion. I stuttered something about the toilet and made sure I got out of there ASAP. If this was grown up life it wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I'd marry some rich dude, preferable drop dead handsome, and life a happy and easy life with five dogs and two kids.

I reluctantly made my way to my designated workplace and sat there for fifteen boring minutes. The second half of my day was a lot better; I was the assistant for the whole sixth floor department, which was basically a floor secretary. We handled publications from magazines and approved them. It was actually harder than you'd think. A lot of articles had to be timed perfectly; especially a lot of gossip articles. We weren't allowed to put a stop to most of the nonsense articles but we had to make sure we timed them. If there was some kind of gossip, that was actually true according to our fact checkers, it could throw players completely of their game if it was released just before an important one. We had to make sure that the publications did not interfere with the game and it was actually a pretty tough job apparently. But I handled the phone calls, the incoming publications, the contacts and a lot of petty jobs that nobody else wanted to do. I met a lot of people whose name I couldn't remember to save my life. Whenever I had a spare moment to think I remembered Oliver's letters last night. When I came home from Saoirse's house the day before there was the now familiar owl waiting in my room for me. I was all giddy after talking about him for an hour with Saoirse and her encouragement to pursue him. I'm not even mentioning her talk about how good in bed he probably was. I blushed a little as I patted the owl and took the letter from her.

"_Dear Katelyn,_

_Her name is Aideen; you can probably guess how I came by the name. It's kind of embarrassing how I idolized your dad. Forget the idolized by the way, I still idolize him. You must think I'm a bumkissing idiot now, don't you?_

_But I actually fly for Puddlemere United now. Have you ever seen my team fly?_

_Love, Oliver" _

I was already obsessing over how he signed with "love" every time he wrote to me but now he added the fact that he actually cared about my opinion of him. Still a little gooey inside I wrote him back.

"_Dear Oliver,_

_I don't think you're a bumkissing idiot, but maybe you should see my dad on New Year's Eve! After a party you will never think of my dad as the same person again, what alcohol can do with a man right? _

_I actually have seen your team play about two years ago.. how long have you been flying for them? Must be tough, flying professional these days?_

_Love, Katelyn."_

I wondered if my comment about New Year's Eve counted like flirting. I didn't even know anything about him, except some little facts. He loves Quidditch. He loves my dad. He saved me and he attended Hogwarts. I usually didn't really fall for people I didn't know but here I was blushing and flirting and falling for this guy. It was going pretty fast.

"_Dear Katelyn,_

_I am very familiar with the effects of alcohol on nice and respectable men. Wish I weren't though. I had two" friends" who snuck some alcohol in my breakfast porridge once in school and it makes for very embarrassing stories I don't feel comfortable retelling yet. _

_I just got hired for the team, I signed when I got out of school. I feel very lucky to be signed though. Have you ever thought about flying professional?_

_Love, Oliver"_

I fell asleep waiting for that letter last night. I found the owl in my room when I woke up in a rush. I hadn't had the chance to write him back yet. I thought about what I was going to write him the entire day at the office. A long time ago I did think about trying to fly professionally, but I chickened about with all the high expectations people have of me. I'll never be as good as my dad and I probably don't even want to. I got pulled out of my Oliver daydreams when somebody dropped some papers on my desk. I looked up to see one of the team leaders standing in front of my desk. He was a handsome man; I tried to recall his name. I think it was Neal. He had dark brown shaggy hair and bright blue eyes.

'Could you make some copies for me?'

'Yeah sure.' I gathered the papers in my hands and stood up from my chair.

'Thanks. Can you send two to each floor for me?'

'No problem.'

'This is your first day isn't it?' He asked me, not moving an inch away from my desk. I looked back up at him and smiled.

'Yes it is.'

'Do you like it here?' He still didn't move. He was looking at me kind of intensely. What was he doing? Was he flirting?

'I think I do, I haven't been here for very long.' I joked lamely. He seemed to think it was amusing anyway, the corner of his lips curled slightly upwards. He was very handsome and all, and it was kind of flattering that he was flirting but it felt so wrong. Firstly he was sort of my boss and secondly he was how old now? At least ten years older than me in any case.

'Yeah, sorry. That was kind of a stupid question wasn't it?'

'I've heard worse.'

He laughed again. 'You're sharp, I like it.' With that said he finally left my desk so I could get to my copying. He gave me this uncomfortable feeling every time he said something inappropriate. I shook the feeling and copied the files with a copying spell and set off to drop them on every floor. Maybe he creeped me out because I've been flirting with Oliver so much lately. Comparing them didn't make things better either. The time slowly crept towards five o'clock. When it finally arrived I looked back at my desk and apparated home. I apparated right in the hallway. I didn't like it when people apparated into the kitchen or living room when there are other people present. It is so startling to have someone appear out of thin air when you're just relaxing or enjoying a meal. So I always apparated in the hallway and take of my coat and shawl hang them up and get greeted by Kerry.

'You're parents are in the living room master Katelyn.' She told me and bowed slightly. I've tried to get her to lose her bow, but she is relentless. I liked tradition as much as the next person, but bowing is a little bit too much in my opinion.

'Thank you Kerry. Do you think there's something sweet and fattening that will rot my teeth hidden somewhere in the kitchen?'

'I'm sure that you're stash is not completely emptied yet.' Kerry smiled at me. I love how house elves keep your little secrets about snacks.

'Do you think you can bring some up to my room?' I grinned at her.

'I would be delighted. Did you have a tough day you feel the need for the sweet and fattening?'

'I'm afraid so Kerry.'

'I'll put them on your bedside table Miss.' She bowed again and set off for the kitchen. I put on my brave face and set foot in the living room. I wasn't planning on telling my parents about my terrible day. I was planning on lying to them so they wouldn't be disappointed or they would feel they should take matters in their own hands and talk to somebody at the office. That would be embarrassing enough to make me quit. I took another deep sigh and entered the living room where my parents where sitting on the couch. My dad was reading the newspaper and my mother was reading some kind of gardening magazine from Witch Weekly. "FLESH EATING PLANTS? CUTE AND COZY OR STILL DANGEROUS?" Was written on the front page of her magazine. I swallowed a sarcastic comment and coughed. They looked up from their reading and put it down when they noticed whom it was. I sat down on the comfortable chair facing them and pulled my hair a little nervously.

'Honey! How did you first day go? How was the office, did you like it?' My mom asked me as soon as I sat down.

'It went fine; the office was very big and impressive. How anyone finds their way in there without getting lost is beyond me.' I lied through my teeth and put on a charming smile. I was almost ashamed to say that I was kind of good at lying. All I had to do was smile convincingly and people usually believed anything I said. At school I could just lie my way out of the stickiest situations and never get caught. I guess it was a good talent.

'Did you hear some good rumours about me?' My dad grinned at me.

'No dad, I'm sure not everything is about you at the publication bureau.' I grinned back.

'I'm hurt. That's very disappointing.' He joked. My mom fixed my dad with a serious look.

'Did you meet nice people? Do you have a nice boss?' My mom turned her gaze back at me.

'Everybody was fine, and nice. Nothing special really. Maybe I'll have more to tell you in a week or so. My day was pretty boring actually; it was mostly copying files and answering phones.'

'Not even some nice piece of gossip about one of my esteemed colleagues?' My dad joked.

'I saw one little piece of gossip.' I looked up at my father with one of my secret smiles. My dad immediately straightened in his seat.

'Please do tell me.'

'What's in it for me?' My mom rolled her eyes at us and dove back into her magazine, probably to find out if she could buy a flesh eating plant. If the magazine told her that she shouldn't buy it, she most likely would. One time she wanted to paint the walls and when I told her she shouldn't use red because that was too dark she did it anyway. Never tell my mother that she can't do something.

'I'll do your chores for a week if you tell me.'

'But you probably won't and then I'll be stuck with them anyway.'

'Okay, I'll let you have the last piece of apple crumble your mom is planning on making tomorrow.'

'Deal.' We both got out of our seats and shook hands.

'Now spill!' My dad ordered with a fake stern face.

'Okay, four words: Galvin Gudgeon, tax evasion.' My fathers face immediately broke into a hug grin.

'Are you kidding me? Is this confirmed news or another one of those pesky Rita Skeeter kind of gossips? It's not like the Chudley Cannons need any more bad publicity.'

'Well, I only got a brief peek at the news article as it was passing my desk. I tried to read it but I was in a real hurry to copy them and bring them to all the departments. But I think this one is for real. I mean: it looked researched.'

'Oh, the team is going to love your new job. The poor cannons though. Remember when Skeeter wrote that review of their last game? That was one brutal review, that was.'

'Oh I remember that. What did she say about Galvin again? Something about a blind man being able to see the snitch when it was right in front of his face better than him?' My father and I both laughed when we remembered the review. It really was one hell of an unnecessary piece of review. That Skeeter woman was relentless.

'She got me right as well after the Quidditch World Cup. I think she said something about me liking the taste of dirt in my mouth and she didn't understand how I could possibly apparate to right spot in one go.'

My mother lowered her magazine again. 'I hate that Skeeter woman but I'll have to admit that this article you're talking about made me giggle a little. She does have a way with words.'

'If only she would use her powers for the common good.' My father sighed. My mom and I both laughed.

'But what else will you and your team talk about during your supposed team meetings? I think she provides you guys with most of your talking material right? You're like old ladies with your gossips.' I joked.

'That I cannot deny. But aren't you hungry Kate? We left you some leftovers from our dinner for you.'

'No, I already ate something before I left the office.' I lied to them. I was already looking forward to my sweet and fattening goodies waiting for me in my room.

'Look at her.' My dad poked my mom with his elbow. 'All grown up and talking about leaving the office and stuff. What has happened to our little baby?' He pretended to cry into my mother's shoulder who in her turn was looking at him with a bemused face. My father was such a child inside.

'I'll leave you to your crying then. I'm going upstairs, I have to write Saoirse about our plans for the weekend.' I lied again. I wasn't planning to write Saoirse, but Oliver of course. I didn't lie about this to keep it secret, I'm sure they noticed the owl flying into my room every time. But I wanted to keep this to myself. I wanted to enjoy his attention in private. I told Saoirse that he wrote to me, but I didn't tell her what he wrote to me. I liked to keep the contents of the letters to myself. This way it felt like Oliver was mine, in a way.

'Goodnight honey.' My mom told me while she tried to pry my still fake sobbing father of her shoulder. I giggled at the dorky sight and went upstairs to my room. On my bed were three pink boxes waiting for me.

'Thank you, Kerry.' I said out loud even though she wouldn't hear me. I took a piece of parchment and my quill and sat down on my bed surrounded by candy. I opened one of the boxes and put one piece in my mouth. While taking in the sweetness I took the quill and started writing.

"_Dear Oliver,_

_I hope you'll feel comfortable enough to tell them to me one day, or is that too forward of me? _

_I have thought about flying professionally, my dad has thought about it, my mom has thought about it and everybody has thought about it. And that's the exact reason that I backed out of trying. There were too many expectations and not enough talent on my part.  
I'll never be a brilliant player; I'll always be just a good player. And if I ever tried to fly professionally I feel like I'll let everybody down because I can't exceed any of their expectations. _

_I've never told anybody this before._

_Love, Katelyn."_

This time I used my own owl to send the letter to Oliver. I had send Oliver's owl back that morning, I didn't want to keep him at my place all day in case Oliver needed it. I settled back on my bed and chewed on some more sweets while I thought about my first day. It was bad, and I wasn't particularly excited about returning to work tomorrow. But it would probably get better with time, I wasn't that pessimistic. I would have to show them I was worth their time. I grabbed a book from my nightstand and while eating the rest of the sweets I started reading. I wasn't even on my tenth page when my owl returned again. Sweet merlin, that boy was fast. I started to wonder how close Oliver lived, he couldn't live that far away with the owl returning that fast. I took the letter from my owl's leg and sat down on my bed again to read it.

"_Dear Katelyn,_

_I would love to be able to tell that story to you one day. You could never be too forward to me. _

_Can I just ask you something? Do you enjoy flying? Would you like to play the game and actually getting paid for it? If you would stop thinking about everybody's expectations for a few seconds and just think about yourself. _

_Would you be happier then?_

_Love, Oliver." _

Would I be happier?


	5. Chapter 5

_Before you continue reading this chapter I want to thank everybody that has taken the time to read this far. This is the first story I wrote that I actually want to continue writing and where I've come further than the first chapter. I don't have a whole lot of experience with writing so if you have tips or spot a spelling mistake (English is not my first language, unfortunately) please do not hesitate to tell me! I hope you guys read this with as much fun as I have writing this and thanks for reading, subscribing or commenting!  
__(Needless to say I do not own Oliver or anyone else from the potteruniverse.)  
_

It was Friday and I couldn't be happier that the week was almost over. Work was getting better with the day, at least I felt more comfortable at the office every day. Letters between Oliver and me were becoming more and more infrequent. The problem was that I got up early in the morning and only arrived back around dinnertime. When I had written a letter to Oliver and took a shower and got ready for bed a new letter wouldn't arrive and only the next evening I'd have another chance to write him again. I assumed he was busy as well. He had Quidditch practice to keep him busy, and I remember the busy schedules of my father back in the day. I missed the five-letters-a-day thing though, I had gotten used to talking to him about everything. I loved talking to him about everything. It still kind of scared me, how fast all of this was going. I trusted him with facts about my life that I hadn't even told Saoirse. And I was hoping that he would ask me to meet. I have been thinking about meeting him again ever since he walked away at the Quidditch World Cup and I was hoping he would take the first step and ask me. His silence made me hesitant to ask him and take the first step myself.

But it was Friday and I was looking forward to happy hour with Saoirse. She was coming to the office when she was done with work; I was expecting her at any moment. I was just cleaning off my desk when I noticed a person standing before my desk. It was the team leader who was flirting with me on my first day, the handsome one. I learned his name was Tye when I walked past his office two days ago.

'Hi.' I greeted him awkwardly since he was just standing there a little creepily.

'Hey Katelyn. How was your first week?' He asked me slightly less creepily.

'Yeah, it was good. I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it.'

'I heard good things about your performance this week.'

'Of whom?'

'Just a general murmur throughout the office.' He grinned at me. He knows so much more than he is giving me now. I decided to move the conversation on to another subject.

'So, how about that Wasps game? Did you have any clue that their seeker was able to pull that last move?' I asked him while still cleaning up the mess that was my desk.

'It was pretty unbelievable; they must have secret practises five times a week. I was not aware they even had a practice schedule.' He joked to me.

'I know! I thought they were totally going to blow this game, but I have to admit that it's a pretty good tactic: playing weak and vulnerable. It's a dirty trick, but it's an effective one.'

' And I'm guessing you're not a Wasps fan?'

'Are you kidding me? No the Wasps are definitely not a household name in my household. My dad would sooner have me root for Bulgaria than for the Wasps.' I joked back. I noticed that when I dropped my father's name in the conversation Tye straightened up slightly. It was hardly noticeable but the shift in his posture was enough for me to snap out of the joking mood. He was probably after more stories of my father and our family. He was playing it clever though; I would not have guessed it. I narrowed my eyes a little bit but tried not to show that I noticed his posture change.

'No, that's probably for the best. They're not really much to root for anyway.' He drew out the last syllable and I almost shuddered a little. Right on cue I saw Saoirse coming through the door and walking towards me. I small sigh of relief escaped my lips and I quickly disguised it as a broad smile.

'Saoirse!' I walked from behind my desk to give her a hug. 'I'm so glad you're on time.' I grinned at her once I was at arms length again. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and gave me one of her most charming smiles. She most have noticed Tye. She always did the hair flip thing over her shoulder when she spots a new target. It's kind of her secret signal to me, if I had already called dibs I would touch my own neck as my own secret signal. Needless to say I didn't touch my neck.

'I wouldn't dare to keep you waiting.' She turned to look at Tye.

'Saoirse, this is Tye: he's sort of my boss. Tye, this is Saoirse Moran: my best friend.' They shook hands I Saoirse threw her good old charms into the battle.

'The boss, huh? Then I'll try to be on my best behaviour.' She told him with a stern face I had seen a million times before. He fell right into it. Not many can resist.

'Well, I'm a boss and not a teacher so I can't put you in detention. The worst I could do is get Katelyn to show you out; which may not turn out as well as I would hope. So I guess I'm at a loss here. There's not much I could do if you did misbehave.' I finished clearing my desk and grabbed my coat as a sign that I was ready. Luckily I did not have to embarrass myself by couching loudly to get their attention. Saoirse noticed me and gave me a subtle wink Tye missed luckily.

'You'll have to wait for another time then. I think we're about ready to jet.' She said.

'All right. Don't do anything I wouldn't do.' He told us and walked away into the direction of his office. I put on my coat and got into the lifts with Saoirse.

'My, my. That was interesting, how you managed not to call dibs on that piece of-'

'He's my boss Saoirse.' I interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.

'So what? You could still hit that. I mean he's pretty young, isn't he?'

'I'll leave that honour in your ballpark. I'm not _that_ fond of balls right now.' Saoirse giggled.

'So, how was work today?' She asked.

'Well, you know. I sold another bit of my soul to the devil like all working folk. You?'

'It was all right. I accidentally ate most of the chocolate sprinkles. My boss thinks it's an order error he made the last time he ordered a batch of sprinkles. I live for this shit.' She grinned at me. Saoirse decided she didn't like office jobs that much just before the summer. She decided to work in an ice-cream shop instead. The guy who owns the place is a total grump but even he couldn't resist Saoirse's hair flipping and decided to hire her because she'd attract more customers than his charming pout everyday. She enjoys it a little bit too much.

'You're evil and I think you're secretly a genius. You're not even a real waitress and your job is already better than mine. Do you want to trade? McSexypants for McGrumpy?' Saoirse laughed and shook her head just as the lift arrived at the ground floor. I waved at the receptionist manning the front desk and we apparated the second we stepped outside. We arrived at a pub I've never been in before. Saoirse proposed it after she overheard two hot guys, who came into her store the day before, saying that they were going out there tonight. It looked like a cosy pub and I felt a little better about my boring day. Saoirse grabbed my hand and we giggled our way into the pub. As she held our still entwined hands up in the air we made our way to the bar. We sat down at the bar and ordered two glasses of wine and toasted to our soul. Just as I was about to tell her about something that happened at work today I caught sight of a pair of eyes I had been dreaming about for the past week.

Oliver.

He had not seen me at the bar and he was drinking with two mates of his who looked completely identical. They had bright red hair and one of them seemed to have some scorch marks on his hand as he raised his beer to his mouth.

'Oh my god. It's Oliver.' I said to Saoirse who was following my eyes across the busy room.

'Oh wow. I'd forgotten how gorgeous he was. Honey, I believe this is faith that shoved him to this unholy place tonight.' I looked at her with a big smirk on my face. I suddenly felt a little brighter and more alive than I've felt all week. A rush of energy surged through my body as I got off my stool. 'Go get him!' She yelled after me as I started to wade my way through the mass of people. When he came into sight again I smiled to myself and he still hadn't noticed me. He was involved in a deep discussion of some kind with the red haired twins.

'Oliver?' I said as I put my hand on his arm in greeting. I did not however expect to catch him by surprise with this small movement. He jumped in response to my touch and his arm twitched upwards. This wouldn't have been so unfortunate hadn't he been holding his beer with that arm and this said beer hadn't soaked me through. He looked at my shocked face in recognition.

'Oh bullocks. Katelyn?' He said as he took in my wet appearance once more. The twins apparently couldn't hold their laughter any longer and like a volcano erupting burst into synchronized laughter.

'Yeah. Hi.' I said as I looked down to my clothes. I thanked my past self for not wearing something white today. That would've been the cherry on top of my embarrassment cake.

'Crap. Let's get you dried off.' We looked around at everyone looking at us. This place was filled with Muggles. Oliver grabbed my arm and steered me towards the bathrooms. He paused a little before entering the girls' bathroom but entered after a few seconds. I checked all the stalls while he locked the bathroom with a spell that would keep prying eyes away.

'This is not how I envisioned our meeting again.' I told him lamely.

'Merlin, Katelyn I'm so sorry.' Oliver took out his wand and cast a spell that blows hot air out of his wand to dry of my clothes.

'That's alright. I shouldn't have scared you like that. I should've announced my presence by song or something.' I grinned at him.

'Har-har. So, you did envision meeting me again?' He grinned back at me. He caught me now.

'I might have, once or twice.'

'How _did_ you envision it?'

'Without the waterfall.' I shot back at him.

'Fair point. So how have you been? You just came out of work today?' He flashed his charming smile at me again.

'I did. I even sent the copies to the wrong departments today. You know, just for kicks.'

'You're such a rebel Katelyn Lynch.'

'That is nothing. Yesterday I gave somebody cold coffee _without_ any sugar in it.'

'Where did this wild side of you come from and why haven't I been exposed to this yet?'

'Well, when I bloke is saving my life I tend not to scare him off with cold coffee and photo copies.'

'Good call. But I think you're all dried up there Katelyn.' I bit back another stupid comment and gave him my most endearing smile.

'I think I could use another drink.' I told him in stead.

'I think I can arrange this. Do you want to meet my friends?' He asked.

'So soon Oliver? You're kind of smothering me.' He shook his head and bit back a laugh.

'Come on little rebel.' He offered his hand, which I took without any hesitation. 'Alohomora.' He muttered and quickly put his wand back into his back pocket. We opened the door and immediately noticed an angry girl leaning against the wall who was clearly waiting to use the bathroom. She was probably thinking we were doing a whole lot of different things in there. My head turned red and we quickly made our way out of there. We walked back up to his friends who were grinning like they just pulled a stunt.

'Guys, this is Katelyn.' Oliver introduced me to them. I shook both their hands and learned that their name was Fred and George.

'I do like a woman who smells like beer.' The one called Fred grinned at me.

'I second that motion and would like to add that a woman who smells like beer and can still look lovely does not deserve the attention of a lad like Oliver. She needs a more deserving man just like ourselves.' The other one told us with a solemn face.

'Wait a second George.'

'For what dear Fred?'

'I do believe we know this lovely vision of a woman.' In the meantime I noticed Oliver making hand signals to the twins that must mean something along the lines of 'shut up'. When he saw that I noticed the signals he gave me a sheepish smile.

'Where would we have known her from?'

'I believe she is the same person as the one Oliver has been rambling on about. The one from the Quidditch World Cup.'

'The one whom he selflessly saved from a thundering crowd?'

'The exact same George.'

'Well I'll be damned Fred.'

I decided to save Oliver from any more embarrassing comments. 'In that case you would not mind getting me a drink, would you?' I asked in my sweetest voice.

The both bowed before me. 'We would be most obliged.' The told me and set off in the direction of the bar.

'I'll apologise on behalf of those baboons and I hope you can one day forgive me.' Oliver told me sincerely.

'That's okay. I thought that was rather amusing actually.'

'Don't worry, we all made that mistake once. It will pass, believe me.' Oliver muttered. I laughed at his comment and took a good look at what he was wearing in the mean time. He wore black fitting jeans, a grey shirt and a blue cardigan. There were no words to describe how attracted I was to him at that moment. He caught me checking him out and I quickly diverted my gaze towards the bar. I tried to spot Saoirse when I noticed the twins had found her as well. Both of them were clearly flirting with her and she was clearly enjoying every second of it.

'So, you have been rambling about me?' I asked him when I returned my gaze back to Oliver.

'Maybe just a little. I'm sure you do not mind.'

'If I'm being honest I kind of really love it.'

'Good! Otherwise all that rambling was for nothing.'

'No rambling was wasted.'

'I was kind of nervous about seeing you again, I have to admit.'

'Why nervous?'

'Well, seeing each other in another environment kind of ruins the magic of a first meeting, don't you think?'

'Were you afraid that I was going to disappoint?' I teased him.

'No, more of the opposite.' He confessed with and he looked shyly at his shoes.

'I would never have guessed you as the shy type Oliver.'

'Maybe you don't know me very well then.'

'Not very well, no.'

'I think it's time to change this situation I'm afraid.'

'Tell me something then.' Right that moment George and Fred return from wooing Saoirse. They hand me my drink and gave me a look that suggested they wanted to be included in the conversations. 'I was just asking Oliver to tell me something about himself.' I told them as I gave Oliver a mischievous look.

Before Oliver could intervene one of the twins took the stage. 'I have some lovely stories about Oliver if you're interested.'

'A few years worth of stories actually, Fred.' The other twin that must be George added.

'I'm sure she's interested in at least one or two.'

'Maybe one when he almost drowned himself in the showers?'

'Or what about the Christmas party of 1992?'

'Guys, please. You are killing me here!' Oliver intervened their trip down to memory lane. I tried to stifle a laugh and Oliver shot me an embarrassed look. I looked back at the bar and saw Saoirse looking our way and giving me the thumbs up. I waved her over here and turned back to Fred and George looking at me with wide eyes.

'You know that blonde goddess?' One of them asked me. By this time I had already forgotten who was who. It was very confusing.

'Yes, that's my best friend over there.' I told them with a slight laugh. Oliver looked her way and recognised her as well. The twins noticed this and gave him another incredulous look.

'You know her as well?' They asked Oliver.

'What is this world coming to?' One of them muttered to the other. Saoirse made her way through the crowd and when slung her arm around my shoulders when she made it.

'Well, what a bunch of familiar faces.' She grinned at our group. A big smile formed on my face as well.

'Good to see you again Saoirse.' Oliver told her politely.

'Good to see you to.' She told him just as politely but with a slight smirk on her face.

'The twins were just telling me some of their fondest memories of Oliver.'

'Who am I to interrupt? Please continue!' She told the twins.

'I do not condone this kind of behaviour you guys! Please have some mercy on me and let me just try to impress this girl.' He told the twins and pointed at me sideways with his thumb. I giggled at this and immediately covered my mouth with my hand.

'If it helps I could always tell you some amusing stories about this little angel as well. Make it a little more even?' She cocked her head sideways at me.

'Don't you dare.' I muttered at her.

'All right no stories then, for no one. How about a few drinks in stead? I could do with one or two myself at this stage.' One of the twins proposed to us.

'Hell yeah! How about we do one round of shots for everybody? Some firewhiskey I know they have stashed behind that bar.' Saoirse said. Oliver and I both shot each other grateful looks and shared a secret smile behind Saoirse's back. I felt a little tingling in my stomach when he smiled at me. This evening was already starting to be one of the best evenings of my life. The twins didn't wait for our answers and together with Saoirse set off towards the bar. Oliver and I followed them but stayed behind a little to continue talking.

'So, uh, you know, maybe we can... maybe, I don't know-' Oliver stammered a little.

'Oliver.' I interrupted him. 'Can you please get to the point?' I smiled at him.

'I, uh, wanted to ask if we could- you know, see each other again?'

'Oliver.'

'You know, if you want to go out with me? I was trying to be subtle!'

'You didn't need to be so subtle. I think you know that I like you. And I think I know that you like me. So I think there's absolutely no need for subtlety.'

'Well, if you put it like that. I just didn't like to assume. I hate it when people assume everything about me. Don't you?'

'I guess so. It really depends though, in this case you can just assume away because it is probably true.' I grinned at him. He was just about to say more when the twins and Saoirse arrived back from the bar with shots for everybody in their hands. Just when they arrived a table near us opened up and we put the shots on the table and gathered around it.

'So, how about a little toast?' One of the twins proposed. I still had no clue who was who with those two.

'How about to new beginnings? New friendships and fresh starts?' Saoirse said and looked around the group for approval. We all nodded. It was actually kind of appropriate. New friendships and hopefully the start of a new relationship and I also was standing at the start of a new career. We all took the shots and looked once more around the circle. My eyes met Oliver's and kept eye contact until we downed the shot.


	6. Chapter 6

When I woke up and the light hit my eyes I immediately pressed them shut again. A stabbing pain pierced my head and I knew I was blessed with a terrible hangover for the rest of the day. I rolled over but was stopped when I felt I was not the only one in the bed. I tried to sneak a peek under the covers but the person who was underneath it had pulled the sheets tightly over him or herself. What was going on? I couldn't remember taking anybody home with me last evening? That's certainly something I would remember, right? I crawled out of my bed and decided to hit the bathroom before facing whatever I had to face with the mysterious person that was hiding in my bed. I tried to sneak another peek but the sheets were even covering the hair. It could just be Saoirse, but what if it's not? I tried to recall my last memories of the night before but I could only remember apparating to my front door alone. I can't have been Oliver, could it? While I stepped under the shower and embraced the hot water showering down on me I thought about Oliver again. He was probably just as drunk as I was last night but he was also a total gentleman. We flirted but we didn't go any further than that. I kind of like that about him, he is kind of an old school gentleman. He is the kind of guy to hold doors for you and wait until the second date to kiss a girl without being a prude. It's such a breath of fresh air of what I'm used to. Guys taking advantage of the first drunk girl to enter a room. Yes, yesterday made me like this boy so much more. Boy sounds wrong for a person of twenty years old, but his boyish charm brought it out. When I finally got out of the shower I wrapped a big fluffy towel around myself and walked back into my bedroom. The person in my bed had turned around I with relief I noticed it was Saoirse. She had woken up in the mean time.

'You look like a drowned rat with a hangover.' She remarked.

'I kind of feel like a drowned rat with a hangover.' I told her. 'How is your headache?'

'About as bad as yours, I reckon. It feels like we partied in a hurricane. I'm beat.'

'What a night though. What did you think of Oliver?'

'I can definitely see what you see in him. He didn't take his eyes of you the entire night. Did you notice that?'

'I'm not sure I noticed it, but to be fair my eyes were glued to him the entire night as well. And the twins took a real liking to you as well.' This made her laugh.

'They're cute. But a little bit to young for my taste. We should invite them to our housewarming at the end of the summer as well. They'd be fun to have. Oliver is invited as well of course!'

'That's a great idea. I can't wait until we finally get that key!' I gushed as much as I could under these circumstances.

'I know. I'll get excited when my head stops internally exploding.' We both giggled.

'How did you even get in my bed anyway? I don't remember taking you with me yesterday? I thought you went home?'

'Well, the thing is… I was so drunk last night and when I apparated home I saw that the lights were still on and my dad was clearly still awake. So, I figured that I shouldn't go inside and so I apparated back to yours so my dad won't freak on me again. He hates it when I drink, remember my sixteenth birthday party?'

'Oh hell yeah, I remember that. I have never seen him so mad. It was because of that uncle of yours right, the one that got himself killed when he was drunk?'

'Uncle Olphy, that crazy old bugger. He wasn't one of those mean drunks though, but I can't believe he always felt like this. This is agony!' She exclaimed.

'Come on; let's get some breakfast. I could use a cup of tea right now.'

'I second that. I do hope Kerry made those wonderful scones again. I would almost get a hangover just so I can eat those amazing scones as hangover food.' She said. We went downstairs and when we arrived in the kitchen only Kerry was standing at the stove. My parents were probably out together. I was kind of glad for this. My dad usually found it entertaining to find me hung-over in the kitchen but my mom found it a little less amusing. But still my parents were a lot more lenient than Saoirse's parents. She had this crazy uncle who died of alcohol poisoning once, her mother's brother.

'Good morning Kerry, I hope you don't mind that I took one person extra for breakfast this morning.' I said.

'Of course Kerry doesn't mind. Kerry likes Saoirse very much, very much indeed.'

'Do you by any chance have some of your famous scones for me today?'

'Kerry doesn't but Kerry could make some if miss Saoirse wants some?'

'Kerry, you're a goddess and I love you more than anything.' Kerry giggled and started working on her scones. I poured us both a cup of tea and we sat down at the kitchen counter staring into blank space. Just that moment my parents came in and at the exact same moment Kerry put two glasses in front of us with a very familiar substance in it. We didn't doubt it for a second and gulped it down. Long live hangover potions. We put our cups down at the same moments and turned around to greet my parents who were giving us weird looks.

'Good morning.' I told them in a voice that was softer than I meant it to be.

'Morning.' My dad told me triumphantly. 'Oh, is that coffee I see?'

'Yes it is. How are you on this good morning?' Saoirse asked my parents with a smile that kept getting bigger. I know why, because I could feel my hangover slip with the second. I already felt a whole lot better.

'Al right. What did you do?' My mom asked with an accusing tone.

'Nothing mom, I promise! We're just in a very good mood. You know how me and Saoirse get when we have one of our sleepovers?'

'Well I guess you have kind of a point there. Kerry could you make us some more coffee?'

'Kerry already made you some more coffee Miss Lynch. It's on the counter, right here.' Kerry answered.

'So, what did you girls do last night?' My mother asked while my dad was indulging himself in some buttered toast Kerry had laid out.

'We went out to some pub. It really wasn't that exciting really. Just some good old fun.' I said. My mother let it go and poured herself some more coffee.

'Where do you two get of to so early in the morning then?'

When the headache I had this morning had slightly subsided I apparated to work, I greeted our front desk receptionist and took the elevator to my own floor. The first thing I noticed when the elevator doors opened was the two piles of files sitting on my desk. I sighed and dumped my bag on the floor next to my chair. I surveyed the damage and read the memo's that came with the piles. I started out with the easy jobs and began with the files that had to be delivered to the other floors. I took a big chuck of the pile and set of towards the elevator again. Fifteen minutes later I returned to my desk and turned my attention to the second pile. Some files were articles that had to be approved and time stamped, I left those for last. Some had to be copied and some had to be filed. I started with the filing and set off towards the filing room. This was a big room full of old-fashioned filing cabinets. I preferred to do this work manually, without magic. The cabinets were sorted by date and inside by magazine or newspaper. I slowly worked through the pile of parchment and thirty minutes later I was finished. The manual work waked me up and I liked that I could do it in silence on my own. It helped clear my head. When I returned to my desk an owl was waiting for me on my desk. I knew this owl! This was Oliver's owl Aidan. Almost giddy with excitement I took the letter from her and noticed Oliver had included three roses with the letter. I sniffed them slowly and a big smile formed on my face. I conjured a vase from my room and put the tree roses in it and placed the vase on my desk. Just as I wanted to open the letter the elevator opened. Sophie, the floor assistant from the fourth floor came in and smiled when she saw the flowers and the owl. I liked Sophie, after the first few days we became quick friends and she makes working here a lot more fun.

'Oh my Merlin! You got those flowers Kate? That's so sweet!' She said.

'I did. Just now.' I told her.

'You dirty girl, who is your new lad? Please don't tell me it's that weirdo from the third floor?'

'I can't tell you yet Soph, not here.' If somebody overheard us talking I had a whole new set of problems. I really didn't want anyone in this office to know about Oliver and me. They already think I blew my way in here because of my father but if I start dating Oliver Wood publicly they'd be all over me.

'You're still a lucky girl Katelyn. David never sends me any flowers.' She pouted.

'I'm sure he compensates in a way though.' I grinned at her.

'That's very true. But I've got some more files for you. Sorry.' She said as she looked at the files that were still on my desk. 'They've got some kind of priority though.' She added as she walked away. I put Oliver's letter in my pocket; I'd wait with the letter until my lunch break. I took the priority file that Sophie had given me and walked towards the project manager who was in charge of the priority stuff. I was just about to enter his office when I noticed the headlines on the article I was carrying.

"Oliver Wood and a new flame?" I checked the article and noticed the big picture on the bottom. I immediately recognised myself. The picture was taken Friday and luckily I had my back towards the camera. Since when did Oliver get so popular that he was being followed by the paparazzi? He had only started his career at Puddlemere after he finished school. Couldn't be more than a few months. His good looks and single status must have set him apart. A blush arrived on my face and I quickly dropped of the article and returned to my desk. I liked my privacy just a little bit too much. Maybe it's because our family gets photographed on occasion, reporters were taking pictures of me on my first day of school and a lot of different occasions. Also my father had different rumours floating around in the tabloids and it wasn't always good for the family.

I had read Oliver's letter on my lunch break I spent outside, sitting somewhere secluded in the sun while chewing my sandwich.

"Dear Katelyn,

I enjoyed seeing you on Friday a lot. Too bad I didn't get the chance to kiss you.

Love Oliver"

It was short, but I kept reading it over and over. The blush I got from reading the magazine had returned to my face again, but I didn't mind at all. He made me nervous with only twenty-two words on a page, but I liked how he made me nervous. But if I did start dating him I would probably be spotted in a lot more articles, this made me nervous in a very different way. Especially with famed gossip journalist Rita Skeeter on top of the annoyance cake. I had taken a piece of parchment and a quill to write him back after I finished my lunch.

"Dear Oliver,

Thank you. And for the roses of course.

Love, Katelyn"

I put the letter back in my pocket with Oliver's. I'd send it with one of our office owls later in the day. I put my arms back and enjoyed the sun on my face. When I heard somebody coming my way I opened my eyes and saw Sophie coming my way.

'Hiding out?' She asked.

'Yes, just trying to find a little peace and quiet that I won't get in the canteen.' I said.

'Answering a letter perhaps?' She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

'Okay, you got me.'

'Are you really not going to tell me about your loverboy?'

'All right, I will tell you but you have to promise me you'll keep it a secret! I really don't want anyone in the office to know about this.'

'I promise I won't tell anyone.'

'Oliver Wood.' I said after a short beat. I watched her face light up.

'Oh my god, really? The Puddlemere hottie Oliver Wood?'

'The exact same one.'

'Oh wow Katelyn, you lucky girl. I heard that he doesn't date a lot of people.'

'Where did you even hear this? A lot of people seem to know so much about him already. But he only just started with Puddlemere.'

'I think it's because of the Quidditch Man of the Year thing of Witch Weekly. He won with those rugged looks of him. I think something like that really put him on the map.'

'I must have completely missed it. I'm not much of a Witch Weekly reader.'

'Where did you meet?'

'We met at the Quidditch World Cup. He saved me from getting trampled by a running crowd. And we've been owling every since.'

'That's so cute! Is it only owling or have you been going out as well? It must be going out because of the flowers he sent you.' She said.

'We accidentally ran into each other last Friday. That's the reason behind the flowers.'

'You'd be such a cute couple!'

'It might be a little to early for couple talk.'

'Why? You two could be Kativer or Olivyn.' She joked.

When we were having dinner a few days later my mother kept throwing me knowing glances. 'So, you're Friday evening must have been a whole of a lot more interesting than you and Saoirse told us.' She said.

I almost chocked on my spaghetti and dropped my fork on my plate. 'I have no idea what you are talking about.' I lied.

'What are you talking about?' My dad asked suspiciously.

'Nothing dad. We're talking about nothing.' I shot my mom a look but she was way too amused to let this one go.

'You're daughter made the news today.' She said. The magazine article had hit the stands yesterday and I hoped it would all blow over but even at work during lunch the gossip about Oliver was at high speed. And the fact that one from the Wasps was divorcing for the fourth time, this week someone from the Ministry had let slip that here was going to be another Triwizard Tournament and there has been another Sirius Black sighting didn't take away the fun of gossiping about Oliver's love life. Oliver seemed quite relaxed about it. We were finally meeting for drinks later this evening.

'Can someone please tell me what's going on?' My dad asked again. 'I'm always the last to know. It's because I'm male isn't it?' My dad asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I giggled because of his antics. He always knew how to make me smile.

'Okay, I ran into Oliver last Friday. How did you even figure this out mom?'

'A lot of people won't recognize you but your own mother does. I didn't tell anyone. Don't worry.' She said.

'Why didn't you tell us?' My dad asked.

'Because it's too soon to tell if it will turn into anything. You know how careful I am about these things.' I explained.

'We get it Katelyn and we respect your privacy. But we already knew something was up when a strange owl made visits to your room three times in one evening for weeks. You're not as good at sneaking around as you may think.' My mom told me cheekily.

'For now.' I winked at her. I stood up from the table and gave my mother a kiss on her cheek before I went up to my room. Getting ready to go out for drinks was a lot harder than I expected. I've never been one of those girls who took two hours to get ready before a date because she can't figure out what to wear. But tonight I kind of was. If I were a skirt would he think it was too short? If I wore jeans would he think I didn't think it was a proper date? In the end I picket out a black skirt and a nice white blouse.

It was warm enough to go out without a coat so I just picket out a shawl and my purse before I apparated to the bar we had decided on. I was a little early so I didn't expect to see Oliver already sitting at a table. This time he saw me coming and smiled while he stood up from his seat to greet me. It was the awkward moment when we didn't know whether to hug or to give each other a kiss on the cheek. Somehow it turned out to be something in between.

'So you are a little early.' I said. I kept my cool somehow while my insides were slowly turning into liquid.

'So are you.' He shot back.

'So my mom figured out it was me on the cover of that magazine.'

'What did she say?'

'I think she was kind of proud of herself for figuring it all out. We didn't talk about it all that much. I think she's pretty curious about you though.' I was fidgeting with my fingers and I saw his eyes look down on them noticing I was a little nervous. When he looked back up he met my eyes and smiled.

'I am sorry about the photographer though. Did it bother you?' He asked with his eyes piercing through mine knowingly.

'That's okay. You didn't tell me you were such a celebrity.' I joked.

'I didn't really know myself. My teammates have been making fun of me for it mercilessly.'

'That's unfortunate. I have been forced to hear all my female co-workers gossip about you and how hot you are and how you should be dating one of them.'

'You don't like hearing about how hot I am?' He teased. He caught me as I blushed a little.

'Good to hear that you're keeping things grounded.' I shot back.

'That's still no answer to my question.'

'Okay. I secretly enjoyed them talking about how hot they thought you were. And I enjoyed knowing you wanted to kiss me and not those perfect little office blondes.' I confessed. I didn't plan on telling him this, at all. He seemed to enjoy my confession. And my bluntness.

'You're something else, you know that?'

'You bring it out in me.' He looked at me intently again and smiled.

'How about I go and get us drinks.' He proposed. I nodded and watched him go of to the bar. I felt like there was this electric current passing between us; I could almost feel it. It made me feel hot in the face and saying things that I would normally not say like the kissing remark. How does he have this effect on me? When he came back he set the drinks in front of us.

'So Oliver, where are you from? You're clearly Scottish but where from Scotland?' I asked.

'I was born and raised in Glasgow. I only moved to London after I left Hogwarts.' He answered.

'Do you miss it? Scotland I mean?'

'Sometimes I do miss my parents and my sister, but I make my living by playing Quidditch and that's all I ever wanted. We visit each other very often, which is nice.'

'I didn't know you had a sister.'

'Yeah, she's two years younger than me. You kind of remind me of her in some ways. You know, the way you smile at me like you're up to no good.' We talked a lot that evening. I already felt like I knew Oliver pretty well, but after this night I felt infinitely closer to him. Somehow we ended up talking about old relationships.

'You seriously only dated three people before?' Oliver asked incredulously.

'I'm absolutely serious!'

'What went wrong? They were fans of the Wasps or…?'

'No, they just didn't make me look at them they way I look at you.' I told him. The alcohol had clearly kicked in and I was still just as blunt as the first moment I came in. I just didn't know what came over me.

He leaned slightly over the table and his eyes bored straight into mine. 'How do you look at me then?'

I leaned over the table a little bit as well and stared right back into his eyes. 'The same way you look at me.'

He grinned at me and sat back into his seat. 'Fair enough.'

I was just about to open my mouth to say something when the barman came over to our table to announce that they were closing. Oliver paid our bill without my knowledge when I went to the bathroom and waved my protests away as we left the bar.

'Can I apparate you back to your house?' He proposed. I nodded and took his arm and apparated back to my house. I apparated a little bit further away so my parents wouldn't be able to spy on us or hear me coming. I was still holding his arm and didn't back away when he shot me an intense look. My stomach was doing backflips. If I didn't already know that magic existed this would be my very definition of a magical moment.

'Thank you, for tonight.' I said softly.

'Thank you right back.' We both leaned in at the same moment and my lips parted in anticipation. He brushed his lips carefully over mine. I responded a little bit more enthusiastically and pulled him in a little bit closer. This sparked his enthusiasm even more and he kissed me a little harder. My hands were on his back and then his shoulders while his held me close. The moment ended sooner than I wanted. He winked at me before he apparated away. I smiled and shook my head before I walked up to my house.


	7. Chapter 7

Days seem to creep slower after my date with Oliver. But only because I wanted to see him again so, so badly. The next day I immediately visited Saoirse after work to tell her all about it. All I seemed to want to talk about was Oliver. Whenever somebody mentions his name I smile this secret smile and hope for a chance to join in on the conversation. The day after our date he had sent me this sappy letter, which made me like him even more. I was head over heels for this boy and there was no denying it. Another new chapter in my life began when Saoirse and I finally got the keys to our new apartment. After we collected the keys and signed a few papers we apparated right in front of our front door. We gave each other an excited look before we opened the door. My new home. Our new home.

'This is even more amazing than I can remember.' Saoirse said.

'That's because it's ours now.' I told her as I skimmed the wall with my hand as I walked through the room. I looked around me and soaked it all in again. It was a pretty spacious living room with a kitchen in it. I liked the idea of an open kitchen. On the right was a hallway with my two rooms and a bathroom. Saoirse preferred the slightly bigger room at the beginning of the hallway while I preferred the smaller one at the end with the view. This room had two big doors completely made of glass, which I could open onto a mini balcony. It was perfect for me. I opened the doors and smelled the autumn air. There was a slight breeze that blew my hair slightly backward. The view was a nice view of a London neighbourhood.

'I'm hungry Kate, are you hungry? I feel like I haven't eaten in two days.' Saoirse said to me as she entered the room that would soon be mine.

'You had pancakes at my house like three hours ago. How can you possibly be starving now?' I asked her with an amused voice.

'I can't help it. I stopped questioning it when I was two years old and have been enjoying my appetite ever since.'

'You're such a weirdo.' I told her.

'So, how about pizza?'

We were sitting on the floor of our brand new living room with two open pizza boxes next to us. It was the most relaxed and free I have felt in a while.

'It's still a little unreal that we're actually going to do this. I just realised that I have no idea how to cook. Do you think we can borrow Kerry for lunch and dinner?'

'I don't think you're parents would take to kindly to us stealing their house elf.'

'We just might have to learn how to cook.'

'I can do eggs?' Saoirse offered.

'That's so reassuring.' I grinned at her.

Two days later we were all settled into our new apartment. Our parents helped us move all our stuff and buy some new things. It was quite a change of pace. Living on our own without any help from Kerry or our parents. We both had no idea how to live on our own but we were optimistic that we were going to make it work. The summer holidays had just ended last week and we were planning our house warming party for the last two weeks. Now we finally moved in we decided it was time to execute our plans. I had invited Oliver as well and was looking forward to it immensely. This was the first time I would see him after our first date.

Next Friday, the morning of the party, another surprise landed on my doormat. A letter arrived with an amazingly pretty white owl. The letter was written in a neat handwriting.

"_Dear Miss Lynch,_

_We are pleased to invite you to participate in the annual Quidditch Charity Game on 31 September. Please send us your reply within a week. We will send you additional details after you accept to participate. _

_Yours truly,_

_Abigail Cavan_

_**Head**__**Coordinator**__"_

I had applied to enter the charity game last year but I had no idea that I would actually be asked to join. My dad joins every year along with a few other professional Quidditch players and every year there are five spots open for non-professional players. Giddy with excitement I quickly penned a reply to Abigail Cavan and send it back with the white owl. Unfortunately Saoirse wasn't there to share in my excitement so I apparated straight to work. When I greeted our front desk receptionist I immediately knew something was wrong when she shot me a weird look. I decided to ignore it and took the elevator up to my floor. When I arrived at my desk I tried to shake the feeling that something was wrong, but it didn't seemed to work. I set to work on the piles that were disposed on my desk like every morning when suddenly somebody threw what looked like a print out of a magazine right on top of the file that I was working on. I looked up to see my boss Tye standing in front of my desk with an angry look on his face. What was going on this morning? I looked back down from his face to the print out he had thrown on my desk. At first I couldn't see what the problem was until I focused in on the picture.

'Tye, what is this?'

'You should know! It's not my face on the cover of Witch Weekly, you should damn well recognise this.'

'Can we maybe not discuss it where everybody can overhear our conversation?' I suggested in a calm tone to see if I could calm him down a little. He said nothing but lead the way to his office. I got in after him and closed the door to make sure nobody else could overhear our conversation. The gossip might have spread all throughout the office already. This explained why I got the weird look that morning. Tye sat down at his desk and he suddenly looked a little tired. His handsome face showed some lines I hadn't noticed before.

'Can you tell me why Witch Weekly had a field day with your new love life?'

'Look, I didn't know we were followed. We were careful, even with picking out the place. I don't know how they found us.'

'You do know that there are policies for dating our clients? Even if they are not our direct clients, but signed up with them?'

'I know about the policies. But it was only the first date, and I didn't want to tell you before we even went out.'

'You can assure me that this was the first date?'

'I promise Tye.'

'Luckily we can do some damage control and minimise the exposure. I do need you to sign the official policy form for me tomorrow.'

At lunch the gossip was at it's worst. I could feel everyone's eyes on me and saw people pretending not to talk about me, which they clearly were. Some sounded jealous, some thought it conspicuous and some were actually excited. The worst gossip that Sophie related to me was that some people believed I got the job to meet famous Quidditch players, and portrayed me as some gold digger. It didn't help that my dad was a famous Quidditch player either. Sophie assured me that it would blow over soon enough, once a new divorced was filed. When it was finally time to go home I quickly apparated to my parents' house. I was anxious to tell my dad about the charity game invitation. My mom wasn't even surprised to see me.

'Hey honey, miss us already?' She asked as she came to greet me and kissed me on my cheek.

'Not really the reason I came' I confessed with a matching grin.

'Why else did you decided to grace us with your presence?' My mom joked.

'I have very exciting news to tell you, where's dad?' My mom opened her mouth to answer me when my dad came thundering down the stairs.

'I thought I heard another charismatic Lynch voice.' My dad said and also kissed me on the cheek in greeting.

'You heard right.'

'I do so love being right. Thrills me every time. What a rush.' He joked.

'I've got some very exciting news to share with the both of you.' I said as we entered the living room and sat down comfortably.

'Colour me intrigued.' My mom said.

'Let me save you the crayons. I've been officially been invited to join the annual Quidditch charity game this morning.'

'Dear merlin, that's amazing Katelyn! I didn't know you signed up to join, or that you even wanted to join the Quidditch circuit.' My mom said.

'Yes! This is great Katy! I'm team captain again this year and I could seriously use you in my team.' My dad threw up his fist in the air in celebration.

'I signed up about three years ago; I didn't know they kept applications as long as three years. But I'm quite looking forward to it.' I smiled brightly.

'I can already see the possibilities. You were always such a good chaser. I might skip dinner honey, I think I'll draw out some plays.'

My mother rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. 'Will you be joining us for dinner?' She asked me.

'I'm afraid not, Saoirse and I are going to have a little house warming party tonight.'

'A party Kate, what have I told you about parties?' My father asked me.

'To get as drunk as I like as long as I can find the way back to my own bed?' I offered with a straight face.

'That's exactly right, I'm so glad you paid attention to everything I said when you were six.' He joked and winked at me.

Again my mother tried her hardest not to smile. 'I should have separated you two at birth.' She said when her smile broke through.

'Well I'll leave you to your plays and dinner, Saoirse is probably waiting for me to help set up and play the gracious host and all.'

'Have fun honey.' My mother told me and kissed me on the cheek before I apparated back home. Home sounded quite weird since it's such a recent move. When I got home Saoirse was already putting things into place while dancing in our living room.

'Hey little dancing queen, are you enjoying yourself?' I joked. She turned around and grinned at me.

'Just getting into the party spirits, darling. You're home late, did you just get off work?'

'Nah, I stopped by my parents after work. I've got some amazing news you're not going to believe.'

'What, Oliver already proposed to you?' She joked as she sat down on our couch. I sat down with her and pulled the letter from the Quidditch Charity Game out of my pocket. With a big smile on my face I handed her the letter.

'What's this?' She asked as she took it from me.

'Just read it.' I told her. She eyed me suspiciously and opened the letter. But as she skimmed the content her smile got bigger.

'Oh dear Merlin! Katelyn, this is amazing! But didn't you apply like three years ago?'

'Yeah, something like that. But this is so exciting! I honestly can't wait to start training.' I gushed.

'I think I can name another thing you can't wait for. Maybe a certain gentleman caller that's coming to our party in about-' She looked at her watch for a second. 'Thirty minutes.' She teased.

'Shit! Is it already that late? I've got to get ready! Will you be okay with setting everything up without me?' I yelled as I was already sprinting towards my room. I threw my closet open and started browsing for something decent to wear.

In the end I decided for a black cocktail dress that was not as low cut to be found slutty but accentuated me for the right effect I wanted to have on Oliver. With some luck I'd be able to lure him into a dark corner for some more snogging, but somehow I felt confident enough that I wouldn't have to do that much luring. I've never been very confident about mutual attractions but with Oliver it all seemed so natural. When the first guests arrived I was just putting the finishing touches to my face and hair and joined the party. Saoirse grinned at me as she pulled me into a sideways hug.

'You look smashing, Oliver won't know what hit him.' She whispered in my ear. I grinned back at her and while pouring drinks for the guest I almost lost track of time when suddenly someone touched my back. I turned around and in a moment of almost slow motion made eye contact with Oliver.

'Hi.' He said and smiled at me in a way that made me melt.

'Hi right back.' I smiled back at him and without thinking about it I took his hand in mine.

'Before we are pulled in for formalities and such may I just say you look astonishing and I would very much like to kiss you right now.'

'That's very convenient.' I told him and bit my lip and just as he was about to lean in two friends came up to us to greet me. I introduced Oliver to all of our friends and the little charmer clearly made everybody love him. I was in awe of him the whole evening. And the fact that he wore a tight t-shirt with a loose cardigan with rolled up sleeves that really showed off his muscles didn't really help my case. How was I supposed to focus on conversation when he was standing there being fit and all?

'So Oliver, how come those amusing twins aren't here?' Saoirse asked Oliver. We were standing in the living room with the few left over people who were still not tired enough to leave. It was about two in the morning now, but we were enjoying ourselves so much that we didn't really notice this. We all had quite a lot of drinks and I was starting to feel the familiar woozy state of mind.

'Well, they're still in school and term started about two weeks ago.'

'That's such a shame; they were so charming and funny. Let me tell you what they said to me when they came up to me in that bar.' Saoirse started. I got distracted from the conversation when Oliver's hand slipped into mine. I tried to pretend to listen to the conversation Saoirse was carrying but by now Oliver was rubbing circles with his thumb on my hand and it was just kind of mesmerizing.

'Don't you agree Kate?' Saoirse asked me, which was clearly the end of the story that I had completely missed. I nodded and smiled politely. She noticed I wasn't paying attention and her eyes wandered toward the handholding, which caused a big smirk to form on her face.

'I don't think I have showed you the rest of the flat, haven't I?' I asked Oliver innocently. Although we were probably fooling no one, I just didn't seem to care. I could blame the alcohol or the gorgeous man holding my hand or maybe just myself. I showed him the kitchen, Saoirse's room, the bathroom and finally my own. By the time I opened my door nerves were flying in my stomach. I couldn't really tell if it was nerves, butterflies or just excitement but I didn't mind it for a second.

'So, this is the final stop of the tour. My room.' I told him shyly. My slightly more daring comments were nowhere near my state of mind now. Oliver acted like a total gentleman: even though I had led him into my room while we were both more than a little intoxicated he didn't seem to expect anything of me. He was genuinely interested in my display of photos.

'You were such a cutie when you were younger.' He said as he picked up one of my photo frames. I was already sitting on the bed. He joined me with the photo and handed it to me. 'When was this taking?'

'I think I was seven here.' I smiled at the memories that came with the photo. 'I think this was in France, before one of my dad's matches.' I handed the frame back to him and he stood up from the bed to return it to its place. When he turned around I was still smiling up at him from where I was sitting.

'With the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, can I just say that you are one of the most beautiful thing I have ever seen?' He said. I bit my lip again and slowly stood up and took the few steps towards him. I probably wasn't walking as straight as I thought I was.

'Flattery might just get you everywhere, my good man.' I said. I stopped right in front of him and without looking up at him I put one hand on his hip and one on his chest. I slowly moved my hand up and down his chest. As I moved my hand I heard him draw in a breath. He moved closer to me, very slowly. When his lips touched mine lightly there was suddenly a sharp rap on my door. One of us sighed and the other laughed, it was hard to tell whom because we were so close.

'Kate?' I heard Saoirse's voice on the other side of the door.

'Yes?' I answered. I removed my hand from Oliver's chest and did a slight step back. Oliver put his hands on my hips in protest. He gave me a defiant look and smiled at me. His fingers felt like they were burning holes through my dress.

'I hate to interrupt.' She paused for a second and I could almost hear her smiling. 'We've got a situation out here and I kind of need your help.' She said through the door.

'Alright, I'll be right out.' I told her and shook my head in disbelief. 'So, this puts a damper on things. Doesn't it?' I turned back towards Oliver.

'I think I'll leave you to it then. It's getting kind of late.' He said.

'That's probably best.' I almost whispered back to him. He quickly moved towards me and kissed me softly on the lips. Before I could respond he pulled away and apparated. I shook my head and with a big smile on my face I left my room.


	8. Chapter 8

The wind was blowing the stray hairs that escaped my ponytail in my face as I was gripping my boom tighter. Unless some people who were standing next to me in line I was concentrating on what my father was saying. The first day of training for the charity game demanded a slightly too long speech from my dad, he already covered the fact that he was captain of this team a few times before and how even though we were only a temporary team we had to get to know each other like family.

'And so I have devised some plays that even "the Irish" haven't seen yet that will ensure us to win this game. Over the next few weeks we will have-' my thoughts strayed back to what I would've been doing if I hadn't been chosen to play the charity game. I would probably still be sitting at my desk copying something boring. I took time off from work for the training. Training was going to be my new full-time job. They weren't very happy with my decision but they could hardly stop me. It was for charity after all. I also hadn't seen Oliver since our housewarming party. Last time I saw him was when Saoirse interrupted us with the emergency of one of our guest puking up our living room. He was just as busy with training as I was going to be the next couple of weeks. He wasn't allowed near our training and I would be stunned before I could even be able to enter the Puddlemere pitch. They took spying very seriously in the Quidditch world. I pushed my thoughts back to listening to the last of my dad's speech. 'We have stronger chasers than our opponents team but I hate to say that their seeker is quite a wildcard. We have to work together in harmony without excuses. Look around you: this people will be your family for the next couple of weeks.' He finished. Everybody clapped and looked at each other nervously.

'Now everybody get up in the air and start passing the Quaffle around. I want you to get familiar with each other throw techniques.' My dad commanded. I was the last to mount my broom and caught my dad winking at me just as I soared into the air. He opened the Quaffle case and threw it in the air. My fellow Chaser called Jonas caught it firmly. I could already tell he was a good Chaser by the way he held the Quaffle. Jonas was a thirty-something blonde guy with a good-natured grin on his face. He threw the Quaffle to me and I passed it on to our Beater Keith a burly built ginger-haired guy who I guessed to be a few years older than I was. We threw the Quaffle around for about twenty minutes and the drill really helped with familiarising with everybody's throw technique. I noticed that Jonas threw his slightly to the left and the other Chaser Ewan had a mean throw with his right arm. The rest of our first day consisted of more drills to try and get us familiar with each other. When we slouched back to the changing rooms I was beat but I also knew I hadn't felt so alive since I started working my job. There was one more girl on the team with me who also joined me in the changing rooms. Imogen was our keeper and a damn good one at that. She was incredibly fast and unpredictable when she guarded those goals.

'Damn that was one hell of a first day, wasn't it?' She asked as she sat down on one of the benches and started taking of one of her boots.

'It was one of the best first days I have ever had.' I grinned at her. She matched my grin and finally managed to get her foot out of the boot.

'I reckon this is going to be a fun couple of weeks. I can't wait to try some of the plays your dad has planned for us, probably nothing as boring as Parkin's Pincer. He hasn't let some of them slip to you by any chance?' She asked while she released her long raven hair out of her ponytail. She had such striking features.

I laughed at her not very subtle question. 'Oh I wish. He wouldn't tell me what he was working on even if I was lying on my deathbed with some kind of terminal disease.' I told her. She laughed and skipped to the showers. After everybody had showered Ewan and Jonas offered to celebrate and go out for a drink. Everybody but my father joined, he said something about my mom's spaghetti that was waiting for him. I couldn't blame him; really, my mom's spaghetti really was to die for. We all decided to go to one of the wizard's pub in London so we could discuss Quidditch openly. It doesn't take very long to bond over alcohol.

-'So there we were sitting on the beach and she said to me: "well you're as subtle as a nuclear bomb. Even the Nazis were more subtle than you when they took over half the world." And then I said: "Well, is it working?"' We all laughed at Keith's joke. Even in my slightly intoxicated state I was able to get a good look at the rest of the team. My fellow chaser Ewan was probably closest to my age; he was an attractive looking guy with brown hair and bright blue eyes. The other Beater Davy had the exact same build as Keith but where Keith had ginger hair Davy had a blonde mop with freckles on his face.

'You know, it's too bad that your dad isn't here Katelyn. I would give my right hand and maybe even my left foot to see Aidan Lynch drunk. What a bloody waste of opportunity.' Ewan told me as he draped his arm around my shoulder. I laughed and playfully pushed his arm away.

'I think he just did you the biggest favour of his life, you know. Seeing my dad drunk is not really a walk in the park.'

'What is he like then?'

'More like such a pain in the ass you'll be crawling through the park to get to the other side.' I grinned as I remember the New Year's fiasco of '88.

'You're holding out on me.' Ewan said as he wagged his finger in my face.

'Maybe, maybe not. I guess you'll never find out Ewan Falker.' He was about to retort with some drunken comment he probably found hilarious when we were interrupted by Keith's words of wisdom.

'It's getting pretty late kiddos, it's probably a good idea to call it a night before everyone makes an even greater ass of themselves. And I would hate for Lynch to kill us tomorrow morning at practice for being even more hung-over than we already will be tomorrow.' He said. We all mumbled in agreement. He was probably right. My dad would kill me as it is, showing up with a hangover on the second day of practise. Everybody reluctantly agreed and gathered their coats after everybody paid for their share of the drinks. Ewan and I were still giggling over some stupid joke when we exited the pub.

'As much as I like to see you make a fool of yourself it's probably wise that somebody accompanies you home Katelyn.' Imogen told me.

'I'll do it.' Ewan offered and before Imogen or anybody else could say anything about the fact that he was probably more drunk than I was, we apparated back to my flat. I fumbled with my keys for a almost a whole minute when somehow the door had opened itself. My eyes flew upward when I noticed that the door hadn't opened itself but Saoirse had. She gave me a stern look after noticing my intoxicated state.

'Seriously Kate, do you know how long we've been waiting up for you?' She asked me. We? Who was we? Was I so drunk that I misheard her? 'It's probably best that you go home.' She said to the Ewan who was still standing behind me. He flashed her a grin and then apparated.

'You will not believe the day I had Sash, you should come and meet the whole team sometime. It's so much fun!' I gushed to her. 'You know when-' I didn't finish my sentence when I suddenly noticed somebody setting on our couch. It was Oliver. And he didn't look very happy to see me piss drunk.

'Why don't you just head back to bed?' Oliver asked Saoirse. 'I'll make sure she sobers up a little and make sure she ends up in her bed.' He adverted his gaze to my dishevelled appearance.

'You don't have to. I've done this loads of times and Merlin knows she has done it for me too many times to count.' She told him.

'Nah, it's fine. I promise I'll behave.' He said.

'It's not your behaviour I'm worried about Oliver, it's hers.'

'I'm standing right here you know.' I slurred as I tried to take a step towards them when I tripped and almost fell. 'Oops, not anymore.' I giggled. Saoirse shook her head and left for her own room. Before her door fell shut Oliver had made it's way towards me and extended his hand to me. I tried to give him a flirtatious smile, which probably failed miserably, as I took his hand and let him pull me up. I stumbled forward into his chest.

'I like your chest. It's so strong.' I giggled into his shirt.

'Let's just try and get you to your room.' He urged me. I let him lead me to my room and onto my bed. I welcomed the feel of my soft bed.

'So eager.' I joked. Oliver clearly didn't find it very funny and departed my room. Where was he going? I tried to wiggle out of my shoes but before I could get the second one of Oliver appeared back in my room. He looked a little bit more amused now.

'Yeah, laugh it up. Let's see you removing shoes that keep spinning around with the rest of the room.' I muttered when I finally removed the second shoe. Oliver dropped to his knees before me so he was the same height level as me. I now noticed the glass of water in his hand. I eagerly took it from him and downed the whole glass. I didn't even notice how thirsty I was.

'Do you want me to get another one for you? Maybe a little something to eat?' He offered.

'You can take of your shirt?' I offered shamelessly. I registered a small voice in my head telling myself I was going to hate myself for this tomorrow. When he didn't respond I dropped myself on my back and sprawled out on the bed.

'You're such a hot mess when you're drunk.' He smirked at me.

'That's better than a cold one.' I muttered. He laughed.

'You should probably try and get some sleep now. Your dad and your team will probably be pissed off if you suck balls tomorrow.'

'How do you know that I don't suck balls even when I get a decent night sleep? You have never seen me play.' I slurred. Before he could say anything else I batted my eyes at him. 'Can you stay?' I asked him innocently. Once again he laughed.

'Technically I haven't moved.' He shot back while he tried to take off my shoes. I looked at him but he swayed back and forth. The alcohol could explain this though.

'Liar.' The last thing I remember is his laughing.

When I woke up to my blaring alarm the first thing that I wanted to do is kill the damn thing making that bloody sound. I dragged my sorry ass out of bed and hit the shower. When I felt somewhat more human I stumbled back into the living room. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Oliver knocked out on the couch. Suddenly the events of last night flooded back to me. I blushed when I thought back on how I acted. I was a pathetic drunk. He was a cute sleeper though.

'Will you stop watching me sleep, it's getting kind of creepy.' Oliver muttered with his eyes still closed. A smile formed on my face. He really was cute.

'Didn't you know that I am kind of creepy?' I shot back. I sat down next to his sleepy form on the couch.

'What time is it then?' He muttered into his pillow.

'It's early. I have an hour left before I have to show up for practice.' I sighed.

'So, how's the hangover?' He asked as he opened his eyes and looked at me.

'Not as bad as I thought it would be.'

'I might have slipped some hangover potion in your water last night.' He confessed with a grin.

''How did I ever get so lucky? Water _and_ a hangover potion. You even took off my shoes. You are a keeper.' I smiled at him until I realised my unintentional pun. 'You know what I meant.' I muttered when his grin threatened to jump of his face. His face inched closer to mine as his grin turned into a sweet smile. That was until I smelled his morning breath.

'Oh my Oliver, you may be a keeper but you and you're keeping breath stink like a rotting wand.' I laughed as I pulled away from him. He laughed out loud and before I could move he grabbed hold of my face and smacked his lips against mine. I squirmed under his hold and he laughed as he released me.

'That's what you get for cheesy Quidditch puns.' He puckered his lips at me. 'And for saying I smell like a rotting wand.' I laughed at his ridiculous face.

'All right, how about you go shower and brush your teeth and I'll make breakfast. Maybe then we can talk before I have to head off to practise?' He nodded and stood up from the couch. I briefly admired his bare chest before he slipped away from my view. Oh Merlin, that chest.

Fifteen minutes I later I was flipping the last of the pancakes and had set the breakfast table with milk and orange juice. It was kind of exciting having Oliver in the house in the morning. It'd be even more exciting had he spent the night in my bed, of course. But this was kind of lovely. Even though he had seen me piss drunk last night and he saw he arriving with another piss drunk male of appropriate age. That must've raised an eyebrow or two for him. On the other hand I was not Oliver's girlfriend and he did really had a say on what I did or did not do and on whom I got drunk with and who not.

'You know, I could get used to this view. Seeing you cook is kind of sexy.' I heard Oliver's voice from behind me. I turned around with the spatula still in my hand. He was leaning against the open doorframe of the kitchen with his hair still wet from the shower.

'Don't get used to it until you tasted them.' I grinned at him and quickly turned back before he caught me staring at his bare chest and glistening hair.

'I love a girl with confidence.' He shot back. I laughed and turned back to my pancake. I flopped the pancake on the plate with my pile of other pancakes and set the pile on the table.

'Is that why you hang out with me, just so you can hang out with Saoirse?' I joked. I will never know a girl with more confidence than that one.

'Nah, I hang out with you because of the food.' He joked back and sat down at the table. True to his word he liked the pancakes and nearly ate all of them. I still had half an hour left before I had to get to practise.

'Oliver, can I ask you something?' I asked him as I took the last bite of my last pancake. He nodded with his mouth still full. 'What were you doing here last night?'

He swallowed and drank some orange juice to empty his mouth. 'I wanted to surprise you, I knew you had your first practise and I just wanted to know how it went and I also really wanted to see you again.'

'Were you mad?'

'Because you were drunk?'

'No, because I showed up drunk with Ewan…' I looked at him expectantly. He smiled at me.

'No. No I wasn't mad at you.'

'You were not slightly bothered by the fact that I was so drunk I couldn't walk straight and I had this unknown guy trailing behind me?' Oliver stood up from his chair and took two steps toward me.

'Now, I didn't say that I wasn't bothered by it. I was jealous as hell but how could I be mad?' My heart skipped a beat by his confession. He took my hands and pulled me to my feet in front of him.

'I don't know, how should I know how a guy's brain is supposed to work?' I mumbled.

'Look Katelyn, I assume you didn't took him home so you could have your wicked ways with him. So no I'm really not mad.'

'Good. I'd really like for you to meet my teammates someday.' I smiled at him.

'So, he's your teammate?'

'Yeah, Ewan is my fellow Chaser.'

'Okay, so the devil just got a name.' Oliver joked. Actually, I couldn't really tell if he was joking or if he was just really serious.

'Come on Oliver, as long as he doesn't _chase_ me.'

'Really? That was just the most appallingly bad joke I've ever heard.'


	9. Chapter 9

_I apologize for the long wait. I've been struggling with some writer's block. This is not the longest chapter, but I wanted to put something online to end the waiting! _

The first week of practice went great. It was a full-time job in itself. It didn't leave all that much time for me to see Oliver as much as I wanted. Since he left my place that morning before my second practice I only saw him once. We met for drinks with Saoirse and this guy who asked her out on a date, who turned out to be as intelligent as a turnip, on a Thursday evening. It was nice but I only wished we could've spent more time alone with each other. We were slowly getting to the point where I was wondering what I should call us. We've been on a few dates and I felt myself getting very attached to him. I wish I knew how he felt about me. I know he likes me and he knows I like him. But does he like me enough to enter into a relationship with me? On the other hand there was a lot of talk about what happened at the Quidditch World Cup. It worried me to be honest, it was either very overly dramatic or extremely naïve. Saoirse and I don't really like to talk about it that much so we just don't.

When I arrived home from another gruelling practice I arrived home to a post owl in my living room. I assumed it was from Oliver and then his own owl was busy with something else. I opened the letter with a big grin on my face but when I saw the handwriting I saw that it was not from Oliver. I scanned the letter quickly but then read it more thoroughly.

"_Dear cousin,_

_My business abroad has finally come to a close and I'm returning to Britain again, back home. I am of course more than anxious to see you (and everybody) again, but most of all you of course. I can't believe it's been so long, but my boss has insisted on me staying in Albania for all this time. Anyway, I'll be returning by the end of the month, I'm looking forward to seeing you again. _

_Love, Thomas."_

I felt a surge of joy from reading this letter. I hadn't seen Thomas in two years now. He left the country for some vague job right after he graduate school. We used to be thick as thieves as children, but when we left for school we left for different schools and we started seeing less of each other every year. And when he left really suddenly without saying goodbye after his graduation I saw even less of him. Especially because of his shady job, it never did sit quite right with me. And what's in Albania anyway? But either way I was just really happy to have him coming back into my life again. The door opened behind me and Saoirse walked in. She noticed my smiling face and the letter in my hand and started grinning.

'What, did Oliver finally propose? A little lame to do it in a letter though if you ask me.' She said as she dumped her bag next to the couch with a loud thud.

'Ha, ha. Very funny smarty-pants. But no, it's from Thomas.'

'As in hot cousin Thomas?' She asked as she looked over my shoulder to see the letter.

'You mean my cousin Thomas who you used to find hot?'

'That exact one.'

'Well, he's moving back home. He's finally leaving Albania.'

'Finally. He sounds so much more formal than necessary. Do you think he has changed much?'

'It'd be weird if he hadn't, right? He has been gone for two years.'

'I do wonder what kind of shady job he was doing over there. Can't be all that pretty if he has never mentioned what it is exactly what he does.'

'I don't know. Maybe he did some illegal dragon dealings.' I joked.

'How do you mean? Like some kind of illegal dragon prostitute ring?' Saoirse joked back.

'His parents would love that.'

'Anyway, talking about love. You made the front-page again.' She said as she pointed to a magazine that was lying on our kitchen counter.

'You've got to be kidding me. How am I interesting enough to make these magazines?' I said as I walked up to the counter and grabbed the magazine. There wasn't a picture of me on it just a headline that read: "Finally, a Seeker that really catches". I rolled my eyes and flipped open the magazine. There was a picture of us and some bullshit explanation of how we supposedly met. The picture was taken when we had the double date with the guy that Saoirse was seeing. It had to be, since that was the first and the last time that I had worn that dress.

'They could at least put a little effort into their headlines. It's not very catchy is it?' I said and I threw the magazine in the bin.

'Hey! I was still reading that!'

'You should get some higher standards when it comes to trashy magazines.' I declared and sat down at the kitchen counter.

'There are no standards for trashy magazines, honey.'

'You would know, wouldn't you?' I joked and stuck out my tongue to her. She was standing in the kitchen and stuck her tongue back out to me. I laughed and looked away, just that moment an orange came flying right past my head.

'Oh yeah, real mature. I know, I never learn.' Saoirse joked back. I just laughed but when her back was turned I shot a jellyleg jinx her way. 'Oh no, you didn't!' She shrieked as she tried to dance her way over to me. Just that moment somebody knocked on our door. Saoirse protested as I walked to the door to open it. 'Come on! Release me, will you? Before I look like a total idiot.' I grinned at her but the moment before I opened the door I quickly shot the counter jinx her way. I could hear a sigh of relief as my hand hit the handle. I opened the door and saw Oliver standing there. I immediately knew something wasn't quite right by the look on his face.

'Oliver, are you okay?' I asked as I let him in.

'Yeah, I'm fine. Do you think we can talk for a second?' My heart started beating a little faster as he said it. I knew that an unannounced visit where the guy wants to talk never ends very well. It usually ends up the person opening the door getting dumped.

'Yeah. Yeah sure.' I said. Oliver started making his way to my room when he noticed Saoirse standing in the kitchen.

'Hey Saoirse, how are you?' He greeted her with a smile that wasn't quite his.

'Yeah, I'm great.' She said as she noticed that he wasn't really himself. She gave me a reassuring smile behind his back as we walked to my room. I gave her a confused look before I turned to corner and entered my room. I noticed that he wasn't going to sit down, but I felt like I had to. What was wrong with him?

'Okay, I don't even really know where to start right now. But I have to tell you this.' He blurted out as he started pacing back and forth in front of me.

'Oliver. Slow down. Is everything okay?'

'Yeah, everything's fine. Well not really. Not after I tell you what I'm going to tell you.' Okay, it's official. He's going to break up with me. He waited until I was going to say something, which I didn't so he continued. 'I'm just going to have to blurt it out. I'm married.'

What? I couldn't even talk. I kept looking at him with my mouth still hanging open in shock.

'That came out all wrong, please let me explain.' He said as he kept pacing.

'How did that came out wrong? There's only one way for that to come out, and you just used it.' I said as I stood up from the bed, recovered from the initial shock. Married? What was he even talking about? Did he just get married? Was he married when we met? How could this be even possible? Was I suddenly the other woman?

'No. Katelyn, wait let me explain. You know my teammate Parker, right?' Long legged beautiful blonde, how could I forget?

'Yeah, I know who she is.' I narrowed my eyes at him.

'You can't tell anybody what I'm about to tell you, because nobody can know.'

'How are you even in a position to demand anything, right now? And why would I tell anybody anything about this either? Do you know how embarrassing that would be?' I yelled at him. When I noticed how much I raised my voice I put my hand to my mouth to force myself to stop yelling at him.

'Slow down will you? I can explain this.'

'Then explain!'

'She's a lesbian.' That shut me up.

'Lesbi-what, excuse me?' I blabbered out.

'Lesbian. She likes girls. And she didn't want anyone to find out. And one reporter almost found out. So we did this.' He said with a slightly panicked voice.

'Oh my god. How can this get even more bizarre?' I got up from my bed and put my hand to head in confusion. So my boyfriend is married to his lesbian teammate. My boyfriend is married to his lesbian teammate. I did not see this one coming. 'My boyfriend is married to his lesbian teammate.' I started to pace around the room but Oliver grabbed my arm and turned me around so I would look at him.

'Katelyn, I'm so sorry. But this should have no effect on us.' He said. I wrenched my arm away from his hand.

'No effect on us? Are you freaking kidding me? You're married! With a capital M.'

'You don't understand Kate. She was going to be ruined if the press found out. And they almost did find out. That's why we had to marry. But then it turned out the journalist had no proof so we did it all for nothing. They'll find out if we try to divorce now. We can't-'

'Oliver, honestly I don't even want to hear it. This is just too much right now. What do you even want me to say?' I put my hands in my hair again.

'That you can look past this? Please Kate.' He took another step towards me and took both of my hands in his. He searched my eyes for some sign of giving in. I didn't give in.

'I need some time to think Oliver. You're married. What else didn't you tell me?' My voice broke.

'Nothing, I swear. I have nothing else to hide.' Once again I pulled my hands from his.

'Please go.'

Immediately after he left I started crying. Saoirse came rushing into my room when she heard the noise I was making. She found me half sitting and half lying on my bedroom floor, sobbing like there was no tomorrow.

'Dear Merlin, what happened? Kate, are you okay?' She kneeled down next to me and threw her arm over me in comfort. I rested my head on her other arm and continued sobbing. Only after I calmed myself down a bit I was able to tell her what had happened.

'That bloody arse. I can't believe he actually did this.' When I stayed silent, besides the sobbing of course, she continued. 'Why did he even tell you now? He could never have told you and you wouldn't have found out. What suddenly changed his mind? He was fine the last time you saw him, right?'

'I don't know.' I told her miserably in between sobs.

'I mean, it seems weird for him to suddenly come clean. Something must have changed. Do you think that she and him ever did – you know?'

'Saoirse, you're not helping.'

'I know, but they are married, right?'

'She's gay.'

'And he's hot.' Against my will I laughed. Only Saoirse could cheer me up by talking about Oliver's alleged sex life.

'He really is hot.' I confessed.

'Damn him.'

'I don't know what to do Saoirse. What do I do? He's married, how can I look past that?'

'I honestly don't know what you should do? What do you want?' I though about it for a second, what do I want?

'I want him, I really do. But without the marriage certificate.'

'I think it's pretty much a package deal. This is a tough one, honey.' She said as she kissed the top of my head.

'I know, I feel awful.'

'You should.' She added and I laughed again.

'Don't quit your day job to further this career as psychologist, because you suck at this.'

'Hey, I think I just saw an actual smile on your face. And it's not my boyfriend who's married, so who sucks now?' Again I burst out laughing.

'I was already wondering how long it would take for you to take the piss.'

'Okay, I'm going to get some ice cream out of the freezer and you're going to eat it. Then you're going to go to bed and overthink every possible outcome of whatever you decide to do. Then hopefully you'll fall asleep after about four hours and tomorrow we will discuss this further. Okay?'

I woke up the next day with three empty ice cream containers next to my bed. I found out the hard way when I stepped out of my bed into one of the containers. I tripped trying to get out of it and was just able to save myself by holding onto my bed.

'Bollocks.' I muttered while I left my room. After I had swiped of the remaining sticky ice cream from my foot I entered living room to get some breakfast. Saoirse was already sitting at the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal in front of her.

'Morning sunshine. How are you doing?'

'Hmm.' I muttered while I shuffled towards the cupboards.

'Okay, I wasn't sure if I should show you this but I figured that it's like ripping off a Band-Aid. Just know that I'm here for you, okay?' She said as I sat down in front of her with my own bowl of cereal.

'What are you talking about?' I asked her, alarmed. I had a bad feeling that it was somehow about Oliver and what he told me last night. Usually these bad feelings turn out to be right.

'This.' She said as she pulled a magazine from her lap and laid it down in front of me. My bad feeling was right as I saw Oliver's face on the front page of the magazine. He wasn't the only own on the front page; his blonde teammate was on there as well. As well as my face.

'Oh my god.' I said as I dropped the magazine. I put my hand on my mouth and looked to Saoirse in shock.

'Honey, I think this looks a lot worse than it is. Honestly.' She said as she stood up from her chair and came towards me to give me a hug. When she released me I picked the magazine back up again and started reading the article.

"_Shocking news! Recent discoveries have uncovered the marriage certificate of Puddlemere United's Keeper Oliver Wood and fellow teammate Parker Graham. Oliver Wood has been making the news recently with his newfound relationship with Aidan Lynch's daughter Katelyn Lynch. Now it turns out that Oliver has been married for more than a year. Does this make Katelyn "the other woman"?" _

The article continued for two more pages but I couldn't read a word more.

'This is awful.' I said to Saoirse, trying to hold back more tears that were threatening to come out.

'I know, honey. I think you should really go to your parents today. Your dad will know some people who can set this straight. On your part at least.'

'You're right. I have practice in two hours, I should probably head there before practice starts.' I groaned. Quidditch practice usually gets me out of my head, but right now I was not looking forward to it.

'Everything's going to be fine, I promise.' She promised. If only she was right.


End file.
